The Winter War: Anrak's Tale
by pago
Summary: The war against the arrancar and the events bracketing it, as experienced by an OC, Anrak Ushii, and his dark and moody zanpaktou. Frequent cameos by canon characters, NelielxOC pairing. Ch. 32: Epilogue. **COMPLETE**
1. The Shadow's Secret

_**Author's Introduction:** _So, seeing several stories floating around with OCs inserted into the Bleach universe, I thought I'd take a crack at it. This is my first story, and it will focus on my OC, Anrak Ushii, and the Arrancar saga as he experiences it, starting slighting before the first apperance of the Arrancar in the anime. I began this story well before the Arrancar Saga was wrapped up in the manga, so it begins deviating from the canon storyline around at Chapter 10 and becomes an AU.

**_Characters & Pairings:_** Eventual Neliel (after she's been returned to her true, adult form)xOC with hints of IchigoxRukia much further down the road. My OC stars here, but as far as simple guest appearances…eh, sooner or later, virtually everyone of importance will show up (Renji and Zaraki will probably be the most frequent guests, aside from Neliel when she shows up in Chapter 10).

**_Warnings:_** Swearing, occasionally suggestive situations/dialogue, violence, drunken jackassery… I will do my best to keep canon characters from going OOC.

Anyway, on with the story!

**The Shadow's Secret**

_Are we going to walk all night?_

Anrak Ushii scowled slightly and ignored the voice in the back of his head. It was day thirty-three of an extended patrol through the outlying woods and countryside of the Rukongai, keeping an eye out for stray Hollows that occasionally found their way into the Soul Society. Thirty days, and only eight hollows to show for it…

Most shinigami found these patrols to be a waste of time, but Anrak rather enjoyed them. There was a certain sense of peace out here in the forest, away from the hustle and daily chores within the Seireitei. The country air was nice and invigorating, and quiet…

_Well, are we?_

…generally quiet, anyway.

Again he opted to ignore the voice of his zanpaktou, _Kage Shitsukoi_. He would stop when he was ready, and no amount of nagging from the female blade on his hip would change that.

_I am _not_ nagging!_

He didn't dignify that with a response.

Anrak turned his thoughts back to the joys of the countryside… Yes, it was pleasant out here, and there was something else these patrols offered him; the freedom to stop suppressing his reiatsu so damn much.

When he'd graduated the academy a hundred and ten years ago, he'd been told that with his strength, he would be lucky to achieve the rank of an eighteenth seat. That had hurt, but he hadn't dared question the wisdom of his instructors, and resigned himself to a life of being mercilessly taunted by his peers for being weak.

And then, he'd met someone who had changed his mind, someone who had helped him rise above his own weakness and taught him new things, and had left him with the courage to keep moving forward even after their last goodbye. He smiled wistfully as he thought of his surrogate "sister," wondering where the ex-Captain was now as he adjusted the leather _tekkou_ armguards he wore, the bracers replicas of the old ones she had gifted to him over a century ago.

After spending his first ten years inside the Seireitei with his squad learning the proverbial ropes, he'd began volunteering for any and every mission that would get him away from his fellow shinigami so that he could train in private with meditation, fighting, and exercise…

He may have been of below-average strength when he'd graduated, but he'd finally found the drive to change all that, and change it he had.

One hundred years worth of training had certainly changed things, that was for sure. No longer was he a simple weakling, although he took great care to supress his reiatsu when in the presence of his peers. He _wanted_ them to keep thinking that nothing had changed…for now, anyway. Eventually, he knew there would be an opportunity to surprise them all, to make everyone take notice and admit they had underestimated him, and that was a day he looked forward to.

A century of training and sojourn missions had given him something else, too; the ability to work towards bankai in secret.

Bankai, the final release of a zanpaktou, was a rare ability requiring a vast ammount of spiritual energy, and it had taken him eighty years of hard work to reach a point where he could _possibly_ achieve it. Even then, it had been hard to force his zanpaktou spirit to materialize for more than a few short minutes, and it had taken him thirteen more years to finally be able to maintain the materialization for a couple of hours.

The training had all been worth it, though, and seven years ago he had finally reached bankai.

It was still imperfect, still wasn't combat-tested, but that would come in time; what mattered was that it was _his_, and no one could take that achievement away from him.

Had he been in any other squad, volunteering for these extended missions probably wouldn't be an option; too many of the other captains and their vice-captains were by the book with this sort of thing, going through files and sorting out who's turn it was to go on a sojourn. Fortunately, his captain didn't give a damn about doing things by the book, and volunteers meant he could spend more time focusing on the things he found _truly_ important, like fighting. And drinking. And sometimes drinking _while_ fighting. And terrorizing orange-haired ryoka…

He stopped and gazed up at the fat moon glowing brightly in the night sky, yawning as he did so. Given it's position, it was sometime after midnight.

_You need sleep, baka._

Yes, "Kagi" as he'd nicknamed his zanpaktou was right; it was time to settle down for the night. He picked a nice spot under a tree and settled down, laying his blade beside him. Sleeping out in the open like this was a bit dangerous for most lower shinigami, but he wasn't too worried. He'd always been a light sleeper and as far as he could tell, Kagi never slept, despite her earlier whining.

_It wasn't whining, you fool. I'm only watching out for you._

Ignoring her, again, he shut his eyes and cleared his mind of all thoughts. Within moments, he was sound asleep…and found himself standing in a clearing with a few lifeless sakura trees whose naked branches clawed at the sky, reaching upwards for the pale full moon that illuminated the dreary landscape. He groaned, knowing that Kagi had pulled him into her little world, as she was prone to do any time he ignored her too much.

The good news was he was still asleep and getting the rest he needed, and this was very much like a lucid dream in that respect.

The bad news was that this was usually the preamble to an argument.

As he expected, a lithe female form stepped out of the darkness and glared daggers at him, her arms folded over her chest angrily. Her raven-colored shoulder-length hair was tied back in a ponytail, her surprisingly bright blue eyes, so much brighter than his own, spoke volumes at the moment, though her lips said nothing. Her clothing, a sleeveless top and hakama pants, seemed to be made out of the very shadows of the night. Had she been a real woman and not so bossy, she might have been attractive, even though there was an unsettling black aura that clung to her constantly.

"Why the hell do you ignore me so much?" she demanded.

Oh, great. Here we go again…

"Why do you _nag_ me so much?"

She curled one of her delicate-looking hands into a fist as if she wanted to hit him, but she remained still, maintaining the distance between them.

"Like I said, baka, I'm just looking out for you. That's my _job_."

Wow, she practically growled that one. So hostile…

He'd been communicating with his zanpaktou for nearly a century now, and he _still_ didn't understand her. Sometimes she was excessively bossy and demanding, other times almost affectionate, and always, _always,_ short-tempered.

He didn't understand why he had _Kage Shitsukoi_, the Unrelenting Shadow, as his blade. A zanpaktou was supposed to be a manifestation of the owner's soul, or a portion of it, and yet he couldn't understand why he was stuck with a moody woman who loved the dark, while he personally preferred nice, sunny days and blue skies.

He suspected she had the answers, and though he'd been trying to get them for decades, she always refused. She was the most stubborn and infuriating creature he'd ever known.

It annoyed him to no end, but he couldn't hate her…though he had certainly tried to a couple of times.

Despite their many arguments, despite her knowing full well he had actually tried to foster hatred for her, she had never once abandoned him or forsaken his call to battle, and he was well aware that other zanpaktou were not quite as loyal to their masters, sometimes refusing to come to their aide. His own captain's sword, for example; hell, as far as Anrak knew, his captain _still_ didn't even know his blade's name…

"And I will never forsake you." she said, meeting his eyes. In this world, it didn't matter if he said anything aloud or not; it was her world in here, her rules, and she knew everything he thought.

Uneasy silence filled the air between them as he glared at her, stewing in anger. He _hated _it when she intruded on his personal thoughts, and she knew it.

"You're never going to be happy until you know about me, are you?" she asked finally, her usually haughty voice strangely quiet.

"That's a stupid question, even for you." he spat back at her irritably.

Yeah, _that_ got a response.

In no time, she had crossed the distance between them and punched him square in the face. He staggered backwards, hands instinctively going for his nose to check for blood, though there was none, and in truth, he wasn't hurt in the slightest.

"What the hell was _that _for?"

"For being an ass." she sneered.

For a moment, they stood glaring at each other again before she sighed and turned away.

"It broke her heart, you know…" she started slowly.

What the holy hell was she babbling about now?

"Who's heart? What are you talking about?"

"…you don't remember your life in the world of the living, do you?"

"You know I don't. Hell, I don't know of anyone who does." he answered, a knot forming in his stomach. It looked as if he might finally get his answers, but something in her voice and in the way she stood told him that he probably wouldn't like what was coming.

"You two were so good together, so happy… When she died, you took it hard, too hard… But she wasn't gone, not yet. She didn't cross over like she should have, couldn't while she was still worried about you, so she stayed behind to watch over you, and it broke her heart to see you shut yourself away from the world and turn to self-loathing."

Yeah, he _definitely _didn't like how this story was going. He wasn't prone to that kind of behavior now, and it surprised him to hear that he had ever been so…weak, for lack of a better word.

"Days became weeks, which became months…and still she stayed behind and watched you, despite what it was doing to her. You couldn't see spirits yet, but you knew someone was there… You never made any real effort to get over her, and finally, her strained heart could take no more…"

"She became a hollow, didn't she?" he asked quietly. He still didn't know who "she" was, still couldn't remember a damn thing being told to him, but it was the only logical conclusion.

Kagi nodded at him, a sad look in her eyes.

"She fought the hunger at first, of course… But sooner or later, the hunger always wins out… She attacked you, intent on devouring you whole. She bit into your shoulder as you struggled against her, and that's when you _finally_ saw her, though you didn't recognize her anymore, only the monster that she had become."

Unconsciously, his right hand went up to hold his left shoulder. Was that why it would sometimes ache at random, a phantom pain left over from a life he couldn't remember, a life that came to an end some one hundred and eighty years ago?

"That," Kagi said, "was when the Quincy appeared. A Quincy doesn't purify a hollow so it can go to the Soul Society; they just _destroy_ it. The arrow pierced her chest from behind…and it tore straight through you, too."

She paused for a second, letting the weight of the revelation sink in.

He'd been killed by a Quincy, of all things…

"You, having been a normal person and not a hollow, died and went straight to the Soul Society. She was utterly destroyed, except for a small fragment of her being that mixed in with your very core as your soul departed your mortal shell and the world of the living."

"You." he said, eyeing her. She gave a small, sad smile and nodded.

"You always had the potential to be a shinigami buried deep inside you, and you always had a zanpaktou spirit, but that small fragment of her soul _changed_ me and made me into something different; I wasn't always _Kage Shitsukoi_, the Unrelenting Shadow."

"The darkness is my fault." he said bluntly. Kagi's blue eyes blinked in shock and she shook her head vehemently.

"Don't say that. Don't even_ think_ it. You couldn't have possibly known what your mourning was doing to her, or what it would end up doing to _us_. But it's not just that that keeps me this way; your own shadow feelings, the pains and fears and regrets that you try to hide from the world affect me, too. That's natural, though, so don't feel guilty about it; those feelings are, after all, part of what makes me…me."

"That doesn't sound like you." he said softly, referring to her almost gentle tone as she reassured him. That earned him a sharp, angry glare that would make most men quiver in their boots. How fortuitous it was that Anrak _wasn't_ most men.

"Is this better?" she shot back sarcastically, eyes flashing dangerously.

He didn't bother to try and answer before she continued speaking.

"I am an amalgamation of her remains, the hollow, and you. She, in life, was never as…aggressive as I am."

That explained a lot, really; the remnant of the hollow combined with his own hidden 'shadow feelings' made her aggressive and dark, and this other women whom he _still_ couldn't remember explained the occasional tenderness…and why she had yet to forsake him no matter how angry they were with one another.

"She never gave up on you, and neither will I. And I will never let _you_ give up on yourself, either." said Kagi firmly, her tone just _daring_ him to argue the point with her, almost like she was itching for a fight. Hell, knowing her, she probably was_…_

"You were her strength in life, now, in death, she…_I_ am _your_ strength. No matter how 'bitchy_'_ you may think I am…I _do_ love you, just as she did."

His sword just told him that she loved him. Wow, this was…awkward. Briefly, he wondered if any of the other shinigami had ever experienced similar awkwardness while conversing with their blades. Kagi looked at him and sighed, apparently deciding some clarification was in order.

He had nothing to come back with. Really, what could one say to that? Thank you? Maybe, but at this point, that would seem like a pretty weak and pathetic gesture. Not knowing what else he could say, or more to the point, what he _should_ say, he kept silent.

Anrak had always known he'd get the answer as to why he was stuck with such a dark blade eventually, but he never expected the answer to be this.

He wasn't sure exactly _what _he'd expected, but this damn sure wasn't it.

Briefly, he wondered what his zanpaktou would have been had he died under different circumstances, what Kagi _used_ to be before she became _Kage Shitsukoi…_

Lost in his thoughts, he hadn't noticed that she had stepped closer to him again and was now caressing his face gently, tenderly, the way a lover would. She embraced him lovingly, and gave a single, almost playful, nip at his earlobe.

"Time to wake up, baka…" she affectionately whispered into his ear.

His eyes shot open and found himself still lying underneath the tree, his blade resting in the soft grass beside him, with the morning sun already in the sky. Suppressing a yawn, he stood up and returned the sword to it's rightful place on his hip. He ran a hand through his light brown hair as he gazed at the sun, estimating by it's position that it was around seven in the morning, possibly as late as seven-thirty.

_Hell butterfly_, his zanpaktou mused.

He glanced towards the direction of the Seireitei, and, sure enough, there was a hell butterfly fluttering towards him. He held out a hand, letting the delicate insect land on an outstreched finger as Kagi translated it's silent message for him.

_To all errant shinigami, by order of Head-Captain Yamamoto you are to abort your current assignments, return to the Seireitei, and report to your respective captains at once. War is coming._

With that, the tiny hell butterfly fluttered off, perhaps looking for it's next recipient.

"War is coming," the message had said…

_Aizen_, hissed Kagi, her voice containing more than a little venom at the mention of the traitor's name.

Anrak nodded in silent agreement with her sentiment. After Aizen's betrayal and departure of the Seireitei several months earlier, everyone had known a war was coming. For old man Yamamoto to be recalling all shinigami now surely meant the time was close, _very_ close.

He was a bit nervous about the prospect of war, momentarily doubting himself and how far he'd progressed in the past century. Aizen did nothing halfway, which meant this would be a hard-fought war with many casualties. Would he end up as one of them? Was he truly strong enough for this?

_Baka, of course _we_ are. I told you, I will never give up on you, and I'll never let you give up, either. We will fight, Aizen will pay for his crimes, and we will make everyone know just how wrong they are about us!_

He couldn't help but smile at the fierce reassurance, and he could imagine Kagi wanted nothing more than to slap him in the back of his head for daring to have any doubts.

"Hai, Kagi. Let's get going, then."


	2. Bankai, the First Time

**Bankai, the First Time**

It was almost noon, one day into the return trip to the Seireitei, and the weather, as far as Anrak was concerned, was miserable and depressing. Dark gray clouds covered the sky, showing no hint of the bright and cheery blue that was the norm, no golden rays of sunshine. It was about as dark and gloomy as it could possibly be without actually raining, and he _hated_ it.

Kagi, on the other hand, was in an exceptionally good mood.

_**What a surprise**_, he thought sourly.

_Oh, shut it. Today's perfect; no sunlight to hurt my delicate eyes._

There is _no_ way whatever depression problems he may have suffered in a past life could be the cause of her bizarre fascination with the dark, he concluded. No, this had to be the influence of whatever was left of that hollow, and nothing more.

_Keep on telling yourself that, baka._

They'd finally reached "civilization" again, such as it was, though referring to South Rukon 80 as civil was a joke. All four of the Rukon 80 districts were barbaric and cruel, the lowest of the low. As proof of that fact, it had been North Rukon 80 that produced Captain Kenpachi, the most bloodthirsty shinigami to ever walk the Soul Society.

Unfortunately, passing through the various Rukon districts, including South 80, was the only way to get back to the Seireitei located in the center, and Anrak wouldn't classify _any_ of them as being truly "civil" until District 70 at the earliest.

It was almost as if the entire populace of South 80 wanted to affirm his thoughts on the area, with everyone he passed glaring at him like an intruder…or worse, like they were contemplating murdering him.

And maybe they were; out here in the furthest reaches of the Rukon, there was little hope of escaping to a better life unless you could become a Soul Reaper, and there were many that thought besting one would ensure them passage into the Academy and the Seireitei.

_As if these filthy mongrels could ever stand a chance against us_, came Kagi's reply to his musings.

_**Don't think like that, **_he mentally chided the female spirit residing in his blade. _**We came from the Rukon, too.**_

_Maybe, but West 54 is a long way from South 80._

Couldn't argue there; you could walk through West 54 without feeling like a sheep wandering through a den of wolves. He adjusted the zanpaktou's position on his hip for a quicker draw if needed, and he noticed some of the braver-looking souls backing up as they suddenly had second thoughts about whatever they'd been intending.

Aside from having to flare up his reiatsu once to chase off a group of thugs at the far edge of the district, Anrak made it through 80 and into 79 without incident.

South 79 was rough, no doubt, but it was _worlds _apart from 80, if for no other reason than there being far fewer hostile looks thrown his way. He relaxed slightly, and re-adjusted the sword on his hip to a less-aggressive position.

_You haven't eaten today, fool. Stop and take a break._

It was nearly two o'clock in the afternoon now, and he still had a long ways to go before reaching the Seireitei; stopping to eat, especially here, was a waste of time.

Not that Kagi would have any of that, though.

_It'll take a few more days to get there on foot. You can afford to stop and eat._

_**I'll stop in another hour or so.**_

_Look, over there! Fried fish on a stick!_

_**I'm not hungry.**_

_But it's fish…on a stick!_

_**Not. Hungry.**_

_Don't lie to me, baka._

He wanted to tell her that he wasn't lying, but a loud grumbling from his stomach exposed the truth. Sighing in defeat, he went and bought a fried fish from the little shack and continued on his way, nibbling on it as he went, and refusing to acknowledge that yes, he had been positively starving.

_You should _always_ listen to me._

_**Are you sure your real form isn't a ball and chain?**_

_Cute._

They walked in silence for another thirty minutes or so, and Anrak began to let his mind drift back to the war looming ahead and what Aizen might have in store for them all…

It wouldn't be pretty, of that he was certain. Many shinigami would die, and many more would be seriously wounded. He wondered if he should just come clean about his strength as soon as he returned to the Seireitei, so that he could be stationed with the Captains at the fiercest battles, protecting the Seireitei and the younger, less-experienced Soul Reapers as best they could. After all, surely those with bankai would be doing the bulk of the fighting.

_It was a day like today, wasn't it? Our first time…_

He scowled at the way Kagi said it, how she made it sound sexual… But yes, it had been a dreary day just like this when he'd achieved his bankai for the first time.

_Who says it _wasn't_ sexual?_ she teased. _It was good for me._

_**Please stop trying to creep me out, **_he thought irritably.

The zanpaktou didn't reply, and Anrak found his mind drifting back to that day seven years ago…

* * *

_**-7 Years Earlier, the deep forest outside of East Rukon 80-**_

He glared hatefully at the dark woman in front of him as he raised his sword again for another assault. By contrast, Kagi simply grinned at him, apparently not the least bit bothered by her injuries, or by the fact they were supposed to be fighting one another.

Anrak had reached the materialization stage of his bankai training almost thirteen years earlier, but it was only in the last few months that he'd managed to perfect it and keep the spirit materialized for more than just a few short minutes. Since that time, Anrak had been stuck combating her for the right to actually _use _bankai ever since, and it was driving him mad.

At first, he'd thought that the spirit merely wanted to test his combat prowess before granting him bankai, as Kagi proved to be a proficient swordsman and defeating her was no easy task; he even had a large scar across his torso from their first bout to remind him of just how dangerous the dark spirit could really be if underestimated.

Their first couple of dozen fights had ended with his defeat, and Kagi had mocked him relentlessly for his failure. She had only stopped mocking him when he nearly took her head off in the following battle, forcing her to yield.

He'd beaten her several times since that day, but somehow, simply beating her hadn't been enough. She continually claimed that besting her was only part of what she required, and then said he had to trust her implicitly for the next step…and she left it at that, not bothering to explain it.

The fact he even carried the damnable sword was proof he trusted her, wasn't it? The fact he dealt with her dark moods day in and day out, the way he endured her sometimes suggestive tones despite how much they bothered him… What was _that _if not trust?

Lost in thought, he missed his opportunity to attack as she seized it from him, forcing him to back up with a fierce battery of swings. He deflected them all, keeping a watchful eye on the blood groove of her blade as he did so.

Kagi's blade mirrored his own; the shikai form of his zanpaktou. He'd somehow missed that the first time they had fought, and it had cost him victory…and could have cost him his life had Kagi not intentionally restrained herself.

As the blood groove finally turned red, glowing with the energy stored within the blade, he braced himself for the next swing. He saw the blade coming, a strike from the side, and he hefted his own to block. As the two blades clashed, Kagi's released it's stored energy in one explosive and shadowy burst, effectively tripling the original power behind her swing.

Anrak went flying backwards, but he had anticipated it this time, and rather than resist it, had relaxed and went with it. He twisted slightly as he began to descend towards the ground headfirst, using his offhand to catch himself and go into a back handspring. He landed in a crouch, the blood groove on his own blade now glowing red with the released reiatsu it had absorbed. He charged forward, using his shunpo.

Kagi was no fool; when Anrak flash-stepped and effectively vanished, she knew he wasn't going for a straight-on attack, and she whirled around to face behind her, raising the sword to intercept the attack she knew was coming…

…and was rewarded with a powerful sidekick into her left side. She went tumbling from the sheer force of a flash-step sidekick, and barely had time to come to a stop as she saw Anrak descending on her from above, black blade poised menacingly.

"It's _over_, Kagi!" he roared savagely, bringing the blade down for what would be a fatal blow to any normal person.

Kagi, her eyes wide with the realization of what was coming, saved herself at the last second by dematerializing, leaving the blade to release it's pent-up rage on the ground where she'd been lying and creating a sizeable crater with it's black energy. The dust cleared to reveal Anrak now standing in the middle, with the sword jammed into the earth.

He coughed slightly and spat up a mouthful of blood, showing that he had indeed been wounded from Kagi's last attack, despite his fierce comeback. The spirit of his zanpaktou rematerialized, chuckling at him.

"You win round one. Congratulations. Time for round two." she said, pulling her own blade from the shadows again.

He growled in annoyance. They'd been through this routine numerous times over the past few months, and no matter how many times he beat her, nothing ever changed. He didn't feel any closer to achieving bankai, and he certainly didn't feel any closer to understanding what the hell she expected of him. He stood and gripped the hilt of his sword, determined to keep fighting until he mastered bankai, until he mastered _her_.

"Are you ready? Do you…_trust_ me?" she asked, as she did every time the made it to round two.

"Of course I do." he spat angrily as he readied himself to fight. Why the hell did she have to ask that _every _time?

"No…you don't." said Kagi softly, shaking her head with a faint, sad smile on her face.

She said _that_ every time, too. Why? What did she want from him?

Kagi raised her blade into an offensive position, the smile replaced with determination.

And then it hit him, it _finally_ hit him. The answer that had been there all along.

Trust. Simple, unwavering trust.

No, not the "trust" of merely keeping her around and using her power. She wanted the trust given between two equals, two individuals that had only each other to rely on.

She wanted a leap of faith.

Steeling himself as she charged him with murder in her eyes, Anrak returned his own blade to it's sheath and simply stood there as an open target.

"You're not _worth_ bankai!" Kagi cried as she came in, "You're not worth _me_!"

The sword came down towards his neck, and still he made no attempt to flee or defend himself…

It stopped a hair's width away from slicing into his flesh. He met her blue eyes evenly.

"Are you suicidal?" she hissed, "This isn't a game, baka. Fight me, or I _will_ kill you!"

This time, he was the one shaking his head at her.

"No…you won't."

She screamed in rage and spun her blade around, slamming the butt of the handle into his chest and driving the wind from him. Anrak stumbled backwards from the impact, gasping for air, yet he still refused to draw his sword as she thrust her own towards his throat.

Again the blade stopped, dangerously close to puncturing his skin.

"You might hit me, nag me, and scream at me, Kagi, but you would _never_ kill me or let me come to serious harm." he wheezed.

The raging spirit smiled at him as her shadowy blade dispersed itself into the air, vanishing as if it had never existed in the first place.

"Congratulations; you win round two."

He waited for her to declare what round three would be as she walked around behind him. He started to turn around to face her, but she cut his efforts off and told him to remain as he was without moving.

It was, after all, about trust.

Kagi commanded him to draw his sword, and he obeyed.

"Bankai," she began, "is all about trusting your zanpaktou and accepting their aide. The granting of bankai to a shinigami is, or should be, a sacred pact between the reaper and his sword that one will always answer the call of the other, and will _never _shy away from each other's touch."

He understood her meaning there; often she would reach out to touch him while she was materialized or when he found his conscious mind pulled into her bleak little world, and he'd always pull away from her. He'd never made it a secret that he found her to be creepy, what with her obsession with shadows and the dark, and with her constant innuendos, and he'd often commented that he'd rather have any blade other than _Kage Shitsukoi_.

Kagi nodded at him as she saw the dawning realization in his eyes.

"It shouldn't be like that." she said quietly, her voice suggesting it hurt her. Anrak suddenly found himself feeling guilty, and he didn't like it.

"Kagi, I'm -"

"What's done is done." she said curtly, neutering his apology. "I had hoped you would get past that when I granted you my shikai form, but I was disappointed. I do _not _intend to be disappointed again. You've proven you can fight and that you trust me with your life, but before I will _ever_ let you know bankai, you will have to prove that you can _accept_ me and what I have to offer."

With that, silence filled the air for several long minutes, giving Anrak time to reflect on her words and his own past actions.

"Hold the blade out in front of you." she said quietly, the venom now gone from her voice. He obeyed, holding the zanpaktou straight out from his body. He felt Kagi press herself up against his back at that moment, wrapping her slender arms around his body to grip the hilt, her smooth hands covering his own.

His first impulse was to jerk free of her embrace, but he suppressed it.

"Good, good…but you're still too tense. Relax…" she cooed into his ear affectionately, which served only to disturb him even more.

How the hell was he supposed to _relax_ with this crazy woman embracing him? She was too…creepy.

"I hate it when you think that." she murmured into his ear, clearly aware of his inner turmoil.

Still, she didn't release him.

Anrak sighed and tried to force those thoughts out of his head. He had to trust her, completely. He had to accept her touch and her guidance, had to _welcome_ her embrace.

It wasn't easy, but he forced himself to remain calm and breath normally, slowly relaxing into her gentle embrace.

"Perfect." she said as he finally felt at peace in her arms.

Perfect was great, but now what?

"Call for me and I will answer, but you must do so with _conviction_. If you are not absolutely sure you want me with you, then do not bother."

He nodded in understanding. This was it…

"_Bankai!_" he declared to the world. True to her word, Kagi answered; her body dispersed into a swirling mass of black shadows that consumed him, and it felt as if she was now embracing his entire being.

When the blackness subsided, Anrak found his body clad in black armor from the shoulders down, armor as dark as his swords-

-wait, _swords_?

Sure enough, his offhand was now gripping a second sword, just as black as his first one.

_You like?_ asked Kagi from inside his head.

"It looks great…but what does it all _do_?"

_What does _any_ armor do, baka? It protects you. As long as you are in my embrace, I can protect you from all but the most powerful of hits. Still, don't just stand there and let people hit you if you can avoid it._

"Yes, I never would have thought of trying to avoid getting hit on my own…"

_Don't be sarcastic. Your swords are the same as their shikai state, but now you have two-_

"-I can count, thank you."

_And I can take the gift of bankai from you if you don't shut up._

Silence.

_That's better. The armor was made to be small and formfitting so to not hinder you in battle, but it's far stronger than it looks…and so are you, now. In this form, our speed surpasses that of Captain Kuchiki, and our raw physical power is on par with Captain Zaraki._

Anrak didn't doubt it; despite wearing the armor, he didn't feel weighed down in the slightest, and actually felt significantly stronger. Hell, he felt nearly invincible.

_This bankai is meant to be a perfect balance between speed, power, and protection. As you get stronger…as _we_ get stronger, so will it. Perhaps in time, you can even have a helmet, but for right now, your thick skull will give you all the protection you need._

He opted not to respond to the personal jab she'd thrown in, instead marveling at his bankai. It may not be as impressive to look at as Captain Komamaru's bankai, or Captain Hitsugaya's, but he had no doubt that it could go toe-to-toe against them. But there was one thing…

"What's with the metal skirt? Your idea of a joke?"

_Baka; it's a kama, a waist coat meant to provide added protection for your legs. And it's actually quite stylish…on you, anyway._

"…right."

With that, Kagi recalled the bankai and rematerialized before him.

"Don't tell me you're upset." he said, painfully aware of how moody the woman could be. Surprisingly, she shook her head.

"No, I'm not. We just have to clear something up."

He didn't bother to ask what, and she didn't need any prompting.

"Before I allow you to keep this bankai, I need a promise from you; a promise that so long as you wear this armor, you will _never_ give up. You will _never_ quit, and you will _never_ accept defeat; you will keep fighting until you win or die."

Now he rolled his eyes. He was from Squad 11; this was all standard procedure for them, and had been ever since day one.

"Kagi, you know-"

"_Swear it!_" she demanded fiercely, her bright sapphire eyes appearing to take on an almost-amber hue for just a quarter of a split-second.

He understood what she wanted to hear, then.

"I promise you that when I don this armor, I will fight with all my heart. I promise that I will never surrender. I will be _unrelenting_ until my dying breath." he vowed.

Kagi, _Kage Shitsukoi_, the Unrelenting Shadow, allowed him a full and genuine smile at that.

"Then I gift to you my bankai, Anrak Ushii. Use it well." she said as she faded into the shadows and vanished, retreating back into the bleak little world she had carved out for herself inside his mind.

* * *

**_- The present, South Rukon 78 -_**

A lot had changed since then, and while Kagi was _still _a moody, nagging bitch, he understood her now, accepted her, and trusted her. Truth be told, he couldn't imagine himself with a different zanpaktou anymore, and even if it were possible to change blades, he wouldn't.

The moon was up high now, showing it to be around nine at night, and the clouds were finally gone.

_Are we going to walk all night?_

"We'll walk until we hit the District 77, then I'll find an inn." he said aloud, knowing that could be another few hours.

For once, she didn't argue with him, instead humming contentedly as the night surrounded them.

Of course, _that _didn't last long.

_When we get back to the Seireitei…can we go drinking with Renji again?_

_**No, no, and no. Every time I go drinking with Renji, we end up in trouble, and usually in the infirmary over at Division 4.**_

The red-headed shinigami in question was among Anrak's few friends, but he tended to get stupid ideas after a jug or two of sake, ideas that usually didn't end well.

_I think it's fun!_

_**You're not the one that spent three days in the hospital thawing out after hooking Captain Hitsugaya.**_

_Simple; never agree to go fishing with Renji again when sake is involved._

Anrak just gave a long-suffering sigh.

_**With friends like you and Renji, who needs Aizen?**_

_You say the sweetest things!_

He shook his head, laughing softly. Kagi could be troublesome and annoying, often creepy, and at times downright crazy, but he wouldn't have it any other way.


	3. Sake, Fishing, and Renji

**Sake, Fishing, and Renji**

It was day twelve of the trek home and the walls of the Seireitei were growing ever larger, and Anrak estimated that they'd arrive sometime shortly before nightfall. As much as he enjoyed his time away, he was always glad to return home for a few days, if for no other reason than to be in the company of others, as his sojourns were often lonely, with no one but Kagi to talk with.

Kagi wasn't bad company anymore, not really, but talking with her usually ended in an argument due to her moody nature. No, he wanted people he could actually talk to _without_ it degenerating into a fight, someone who wasn't overly-touchy about the little things.

_You mean like Renji?_

The redheaded shinigami in question was, quite possibly, Anrak's best friend. They'd met several years ago while Renji was still with Squad 11, in-between one of Anrak's many journeys away from the Seireitei.

_And you didn't want to take the time to get to know him!_

Yes, that was certainly true. Originally, he'd thought it to be a waste of time to try and get to know anyone, to make any friends. What was the point, really, when you knew you were going to be gone virtually all the time?

* * *

_**- 9 Years Ago -**_

Anrak had seen him around the squad barracks, but didn't know who he was, and he could see no point in trying to make friends; after all, in another couple of days, he'd be heading out to the world of the living for a month, slaying hollows and performing konso on lost souls.

But this wasn't the barracks now; this was one of the many bars just outside the Seireitei where soul reapers could be found during their downtime, and the redhead at the end of the bar was the only familiar-looking face in the entire room. The other shinigami apparently recognized him as well, and acknowledged him with a slight nod before going back to his sake.

_Might as well go sit with him instead of drinking alone, baka._

For once, he agreed with Kagi and made his way over to the stool beside the man, ordering himself some sake. They sat in awkward silence for a moment, just drinking and listening to the noise around them before the other man spoke.

"Name's Renji, Renji Abarai. Don't think I've seen you before; you new to the 11th?"

Anrak laughed and shook his head.

"Anrak Ushii, and no, I've been here for the past century… I just do a lot of assignments outside the Seireitei. I'm never back here for more than a week before I'm heading out again."

"That would explain it…" said Renji, taking another drink.

Silence filled the air again for a few minutes before Anrak asked what he'd missed in the past several months. Renji obliged him, telling him all the important announcements and events he'd missed during his last extended mission.

And maybe it was the sake taking hold, but after a while, the talk turned from being about the events in the Seireitei to women, their personal ambitions in life, their experiences at the academy, dirty jokes, and humorous personal experiences.

_You two sound like you've been friends for years,_ teased Kagi.

Indeed they did, and Anrak had to admit it felt good. Christ, the last time he'd been able to kick back like this and enjoy a conversation with someone over some good sake had been over a hundred years ago with Yoruichi, shortly before her departure from the Soul Society.

As they laughed, both men became aware of the six shinigami at the table behind them, throwing them hostile glances and muttering amongst themselves. They were from Squad 3, Captain Ichimaru's division, and they apparently wanted a fight as they began to throw insults towards the duo, both personal and about Squad 11 itself.

Both men ignored the fools; Squad 11 was the toughest there was, and the juvenile insults of some drunken pansies who couldn't make it in a _real _division didn't change that. There was no reason to pay them any attention whatsoever.

At least, not until one of them got up, walked over, and yanked on the redhead's ponytail.

Renji's response was immediate as he whirled around and punched the offending moron square in the face, sending him flying back onto the table where his buddies were still sitting. The five of them helped their fallen comrade up and they fanned out around Renji and Anrak, prepared to beat the two of them into a pulp.

"I think we need to remind these idiots the difference between Squad 11 and their little daycare group." sneered Renji arrogantly.

"Two on six is pretty unfair, though; maybe we should let them call in a couple more of their buddies." Anrak mused.

Internally, Kagi was amused with his display of bravado and was cheering him on. Outwardly, the six members of Squad 3 were less pleased as they charged in…

While not _truly_ drunk, the sake ensured that most of the fight was a nothing but blur. The next thing Anrak could remember clearly was that he and Renji stood back to back in the middle of a now-demolished bar…and they were the _only_ things still standing. Tables, chairs, windows, sake jugs, shelves…everything was broke, and the six now-unconscious aggressors lay strewn about the remains of the bar haphazardly.

That wasn't to say the two of them had escaped completely unharmed; Anrak wheezed as he clutched his chest, suspecting he had a couple of cracked ribs, possibly broken. The left side of his head was covered in blood from a wound in his scalp, and he had a vague memory of a bottle colliding with his head at some point during the fight. Renji was no better, with a crimson mask covering his face, his right eye swollen shut, with his nose bent at an angle that suggested it to be broken.

"Idiots." spat the tattooed man disdainfully.

Anrak grunted in agreement, picking up the one miraculously still-intact sake jug and uncorking it, sniffing the contents. Satisfied, he took a long swig of the liquor and passed the jug over to his friend, who accepted gratefully before finishing off the rest of it.

* * *

_**- Present Day -**_

Anrak smiled at the memory. Despite being forced to visit Squad 4 for treatment, it had been a fun evening, and they didn't even get in trouble for it. Captain Zaraki didn't give a damn about their drunken brawling, or the fact the bar looked like a hurricane had ripped through it; he'd only cared that his two subordinates had _won_. Once he was sure of that fact, he'd been happy and had expressed pride in their performance, even going as far as to mock then-Captain Ichimaru to his face about how Squad 3 was nothing more than a collection of pathetic weaklings.

After that night, Renji had been Anrak's best friend, and while they went out drinking at least once every time he returned to the Seireitei, they'd yet to get into another fight like that one. No, instead of fights, Renji had taken to coming up with absolutely _ridiculous_ ideas that a sober person would call mad.

How unfortunate it was, then, that Anrak was never actually sober when Renji came up with these ideas.

_Oh, come on; his ideas aren't _that_ bad…_

_**You only say that because you take sadistic joy in the ensuing carnage**_, he shot back at the strange spirit.

She didn't dare try and argue that one with him.

As he neared the Southern Gate into the Seireitei, he thought back to their last drunken escapade…

* * *

_**- 6 Months Ago -**_

"Fishing?" asked Anrak, blinking slowly, not quite sure he'd heard his friend right. Renji took another big drink of sake before nodding enthusiastically.

"'s a great idea, trust me." he assured, his voice slightly slurred.

Anrak took another drink from his own bottle of sake and nodded in agreement. Renji had said it was a good idea, and after all, what harm could there be in fishing?

Renji had recently been promoted to the lieutenant of Squad 6, but he hadn't changed; on his off days, like today, he preferred to hang around his old friends from Squad 11. Most everyone that they usually went drinking with had work to do today, but Anrak had the day off, as he was set to leave out in the morning again. Spending the day goofing off together was, he concluded, the only logical thing to do.

It was almost noon, and they found themselves on a roof overlooking the commons area, still drinking sake and holding fishing poles, the lines cast over the edge of the roof and the hooks dangling in the midst of a steady flow of shinigami as they passed through the area.

Reaper Fishing, as Renji had called it, was supposedly better than actual fishing because shinigami didn't smell like fish.

Already good and drunk by this point, Anrak had only been able to see the logic in his friend's statement rather than the inherent dangers of trying to hook other shinigami. Hell, in his intoxicated opinion, this might very well be the greatest idea known to man!

Hours passed, and while they hadn't succeeded in catching any "fish" yet, they had succeeded in getting drunker as they went through a couple of jugs of sake, and they began to ponder the great mysteries of the universe, such as how much stuff could be hidden inside Rangiku Matsumoto's cleavage and why Byakuya Kuchiki was a Grade-A prick.

Meanwhile, down below, Captain Hitsugaya hurried through the commons area, intent on delivering a stack of reports to Head-Captain Yamamoto. He paid no attention when he felt something small brush the collar of his captain's haori, assuming it was nothing more than an insect that had collided with him. He scowled as he passed his childhood friend Momo, who greeted him as "Little Shiro" much to his displeasure. Oh, if only she realized how much he _hated_ references to his small stature… He'd never be able to put his hatred into words, even if spent the next thousand years trying.

Back on the roof, Anrak noticed his line moving and smacked his companion to get his attention.

"I think I got something!" he slurred excitedly.

"Reel it in!' cheered the inebriated redhead.

Anrak nodded and gave the pole a hard yank to set the hook, and then began to furiously reel in the struggling victim. It took a little while as the "fish" seem to have quite a bit of fight in him, but soon enough he had a very angry captain dangling by his collar and glaring death at the two men.

"Put me down this instant!" Hitsugaya demanded, but the two drunken miscreants paid him no mind.

"I caught a captain-fish!" Anrak crowed with pride, which earned him another growl from the pint-sized captain.

Renji finished off another jug of sake and peered closely at the struggling captain through hazy eyes.

"I dunno, I think we should toss this one back." he said thoughtfully, "It looks kind of puny…"

The world exploded into cold, white nothingness…

It was two days later when Anrak came to, shivering under a pile of blankets in the division 4 infirmary with the mother of all hangovers pounding in his skull. Renji was across the room on a second bed, also trembling under a stack of blankets. Captain Unohana informed the duo that they'd been out of it for several days and that while they made for "exceptionally cute ice sculptures," it would be in their best interests to never provoke Hitsugaya again.

He groaned and swore he'd _never_ let Renji talk him into doing something stupid ever again.

* * *

_**- Present Day -**_

Kagi laughed hysterically at the memory, and Anrak scowled as he tried to block it out. Yes, Renji was indeed his best friend, but his drunken antics often lead to trouble.

Hell, it had only been a month ago that Renji had talked the substitute shinigami into going fishing with him, and that had ended in disaster, too. Anrak could recall it vividly; he'd been on his way out of the Seireitei to begin his current sojourn when the orange-haired ryoka came sprinting past him, shouting apologies over his shoulder. The scent of sake on him was nearly enough to tell the story by itself, but the fact Captain Zaraki came around the corner chasing him with his zanpaktou in one hand and a broken fishing rod in the other…

The last couple of times they'd hung out, Anrak had refused to allow himself to get plastered out of the overwhelming fear of what trouble Renji might get him into. Instead, he drank just enough to get buzzed and spent the evening talking with Renji and the other drinking buddies they'd acquired over the years: Rangiku Matsumoto, Shūhei Hisagi, Izuru Kira, and, on rare occasion, the ryoka boy, Ichigo Kurosaki.

They were in the Seireitei now, heading towards the Squad 11 headquarters as daylight faded to black. Thoughts of sake were far and away now as he took in the atmosphere around him. The usual activity of the Seireitei had an added element of nervous tension to it, and there was a definite increase in security patrols through the streets.

Yes, war was close, and the promise of bloodshed on the horizon was suffocating. There would be no drinking and carousing tonight, no simple joys of friends relaxing; it was all oppressive fear, grim preparation, and waiting for the inevitable battle.

Anrak sighed and wondered how it had come to this, how Aizen, Ichimaru, and Tousen had kept everyone so utterly fooled for so long, how they had managed to escape the Seireitei once they revealed themselves…

_Don't worry about that now, baka; just go report to Zaraki and then get some sleep. It's been a long trip._

He nodded his assent; it was the best damn idea he'd heard all week.

"Come on, Kagi, let's get this over with."


	4. Battle for Northern Karakura

**The Battle for Northern Karakura**

Anrak looked down from his perch on the apartment building in northern Karakura town at the traffic of the humans down below him as they went about their lives, blissfully ignorant of the coming storm. Though he could sense nothing now, he knew the war had already started.

Captain Zaraki had informed him last night that Karakura had been attacked by hollows known as "arrancar" earlier in the day, and that these new hollows were remarkably powerful, possibly even Captain-level. _Menos_-class hollows that had removed most of their mask in order to assume a more human form and shinigami-type abilities, he'd said.

A worthy fight, in other words.

It had not been lost on Anrak that such a foe would be a great opportunity to showcase his true strength, and when Zaraki had mentioned a taskforce headed by Captain Hitsugaya to safeguard Karakura Town from the arrancar threat, he'd practically begged to go.

He could still hear Zaraki laughing at his request, denying him on the basis of being "too weak" to be of any use against an arrancar. No, the taskforce would be Captain Hitsugaya, Lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto, Rukia Kuchiki from Squad 13, Renji, and Ikkaku and Yumichika, the 11th's own third and fifth seats, respectively.

That wasn't to say Zaraki _didn't_ have an assignment for him, oh no; by the Captain's reckoning, so many individuals with such powerful reiatsu concentrated in one town would attract other hollows, lesser hollows, in droves. The taskforce couldn't be bothered to waste time with "small fry hollows," and as such Zaraki had volunteered his squad to deal with them. The plan was to station pairs of the weaker and less-experienced squad members around the outermost regions of Karakura, and they would eliminate the weaker hollows and gain valuable combat experience.

Anrak had been stationed in the northern part of Karakura, and his partner…gah, the fool was drinking, again.

Makizō Aramaki, the Tenth-Seat of Squad 11 was, as far as Anrak was concerned, the most useless person he could have _possibly_ been paired with. How he'd ever obtained the tenth seat was a mystery, as the man seemed to spend more time drinking than training, and was reputed to run from fights more often than not.

"Maki," as most of the squad called him (courtesy of Lieutenant Yachiru's nickname for him of Maki-Maki), was leaning up against the door leading down into the building, bottle of sake in hand, complaining about the mission.

"I don't see why we're here, y'know? It's not like anything's gonna happen. 's just a big waste of time." he murmured in-between gulps of sake.

While not opposed to relaxing with sake in the slightest, Anrak found it horribly irresponsible to be drinking while on-duty, _especially_ in a time of war.

"C'mon an' have a drink, Ushii. Yer worry'n over nothing.'"

Anrak shook his head and ignored his so-called "superior" as he kept scanning the area. When they'd first arrived, he'd tried to argue with him, tried to get him to take it seriously, but to no avail. At this point, it was better to leave the drunken fool to his own devices.

He'd wanted a more important assignment, but arguing with Captain Zaraki was the absolute epitome of stupidity. Besides, being out here in the world of the living was better than being back at the Soul Society; while it was anticipated Aizen would attack the Seireitei _eventually_, the odds were against him trying anything there so soon, which meant Karakura Town was the place to be if you were looking for a fight.

He cast a quick glance back at tenth seat Maki, who was _still_ drinking. There were eight pairs of shinigami stationed around the outermost edges of Karakura at the moment, making for sixteen Soul Reapers. Of them all, Maki was, strangely enough, the only seated officer. Anrak wondered about that, wondered if Zaraki had sent Maki along to gauge just how useful the man really was.

_Not very_, came Kagi's opinion.

_**For once, I whole-heartedly agree**_, he thought back.

It was roughly nine in the morning, and they had arrived at their post in Karakura at five.

Maki had been drinking since five-oh-five.

_The beautiful thing about Squad 11 is that, so long as you win, no one really _cares_ if you assault a superior officer…_

_**Don't tempt me, Kagi.**_

As Maki hiccupped and discarded another empty sake bottle, Anrak twitched slightly, his annoyance growing.

"Aw, 's my last bottle. Gonna hav' to find sum more some'ere."

"Right…well, while you stand guard here, I think I'm going to go scout the area." said Anrak dryly. He noticed Maki sit up a little straighter at this, eyes focusing. Maybe the fool wasn't as drunk as he'd first thought…

"Good thinking! I'll stay 'ere and keep watch and you can go do the patrol. Hey, can you bring me back sum'ore sake when you return?"

Well, judging by the way his speech patterns had cleaned up slightly, he was indeed more sober than he appeared…but he was still every bit as useless as he looked.

"We'll see." said Anrak, jumping off the roof to the sidewalk below.

The humans paid the black-clad shinigami no mind as he walked among them, almost as if he didn't exist.

Hell, to them, he didn't. Only those with exceptionally-high spiritual power would be able to see or hear spirit beings such as himself or hollows. They could interact with the human world, but were invisible to the average human.

There were certain advantages to being unseen; after all, the sight of a Soul Reaper walking down the street with a katana on his hip would probably send people into a panic, and the sight of a hollow…well, Anrak could easily imagine the army being called to deal with the beast, though it would be a useless gesture.

He weaved in and out of the flow of people, trying to avoid unnecessary contact. He wasn't always successful, and as his shoulder collided with someone, he saw them turn back to see who or what they'd struck, only to shrug and keep going when they found nothing but empty space.

As he wandered in and out of crowds, he wondered if Hitsugaya's task force had arrived at their destination yet, laughing to himself at the thought. Oh, what he would give to be there to see Kurosaki's face when those six walked into his school under the guise of being "new students!" The substitute shinigami would probably panic and make a scene, he reasoned, imagining Ichigo standing on top of his desk and screaming like a loon, demanding to know why the hell everyone was at his school.

His laughing stopped as he heard a soft sniffling sound from a nearby alley, and he turned to go investigate. There, sitting beside a dumpster, was the lost soul of a child, holding his knees to his chest and crying.

"Hey there." he said gently, kneeling down beside the boy. Watery-eyes looked up at him as he placed a hand on the child's small shoulder.

"Y-y-you can _see_ me?"

"Hai, I can."

"You're the only one…I've been trying to ask for help for weeks now, but people just keep walking past me like I'm not here." he sobbed.

"I can imagine it's been hard on you, but I'm here to help." Anrak said, trying to reassure the small form shaking before him.

"I'm dead." he whispered, "I know that now…and if _you_ can see me, then you must be dead, too. How can _you_ help me?"

It was a fairly accurate observation, more or less.

"I'm a shinigami, a Soul Reaper; my job is to find lost souls and help them cross over." explained Anrak, smiling softly. He could see questions forming in the child's eyes and continued on, "When a person dies, their spirit is supposed to go to the Soul Society, where they can live again while they wait for the cycle of reincarnation to come back to them. But sometimes, souls get lost and they don't make it there."

"And I'm one of those lost souls?"

"Hai, you are. My job is to help you find your way."

"How?" asked the boy fearfully as Anrak pulled his zanpaktou free of it's scabbard. He smiled, trying to put the child at ease.

"Relax; I promise this won't hurt a bit." he whispered, gently tapping the boy in the forehead with the hilt of the sword. He smiled softly as the child sat down sleepily, the ground around him emitting a soft blue glow as the spirit exited the living world for the Soul Society.

If nothing else came of this mission, at least he'd helped that child pass on and find some measure of peace, and that was something he could be proud of.

And it was at that moment that his thoughts were interrupted but the unmistakable roar of a hollow, originating not too far from where he'd left that idiot Maki.

Anrak took off with all haste back to the other shinigami, worried that the useless officer wouldn't be able to defend himself. Using his shunpo, he rapidly closed the distance, arriving just in time to see the hollow disintegrate as Maki's sword cut through it cleanly.

"Ha, an' _you_ thought this was a waste o' time!" crowed Maki triumphantly, which earned him a sharp glare.

**_No, that was _you_, you worthless, lazy…_**

He nearly said it, too, but another roar indicated a second hollow to be in the area and…it felt decently strong. Not an ordinary hollow, but nothing Anrak would consider terribly dangerous. Twelfth-seat level at best, he estimated. Maki puffed out his chest in self-importance as he sense the hollow's reiatsu.

"C'mon, an I'll show you how a _real_ shinigami deals with hollows, kid!" he boasted.

_Can we hit him? Please? Pretty, pretty please?_

Anrak's hand curled into a tight fist as he barely resisted Kagi's call to bash Maki in the head.

"Yes, sir." he growled instead, falling into step behind the other man as they sought out the hollow.

It didn't take long to find the creature hiding out in a condemned building. In fact, it had almost been too easy…

Maki, though, with his courage boosted and reasoning skills reduced by the amount of sake he'd drank, thought nothing of it as he advanced on the creature.

Something was wrong here, terribly, terribly wrong. It had been too easy to find the beast, and now even it's reiatsu felt different. Weaker, in fact…

He frowned. No, it wasn't weaker; he was still sensing a twelfth-seat equivalent hollow nearby…this just wasn't it.

This was a trap.

Cursing, he shot his arm out and grabbed Maki by the back of his uniform and jerked him backwards as another hollow crashed through the ceiling a few feet ahead of them…right where Maki had been standing.

Trap or not, it was still two hollows versus two soul reapers; the odds were good.

And that's when the stronger hollow turned and grabbed the "bait" hollow and ate him.

Anrak and Maki could only stand frozen in shock, watching as the lesser hollow was utterly devoured. It was known that hollows would sometimes eat one another, but it was a very rare sight to see.

As the shock wore off, Anrak could tell things had changed. No longer did he feel a twelfth-seat's spiritual energy; no, now he felt a ninth seat's level, possibly eighth.

"He's mine!" shouted Maki as he shoved Anrak backwards and charged towards the hollow, zanpaktou raised overhead in a clumsy fashion.

It was a reckless attack; the hollow roared and backhanded Maki, sending the shinigami flying across the room and through a wall. It turned to go after it's prey, ignoring Anrak entirely.

It was a rule in Squad 11 to never interfere with someone else's fight, but Maki was too drunk and too useless to be fighting a hollow of this caliber, _if_ he were even still alive.

_**To hell with the rules!**_

He drew his own zanpaktou and shunpoed, re-appearing between the hollow and the hole in the wall. The hollow swatted at him angrily, and Anrak batted the clawed hand aside easily as he stepped in and ran his blade through the creature's mask.

Time seemed to freeze momentarily as the hollow stood there, zanpaktou embedded through it's skull. It gave one last, sickly roar as it died, dissipating into so many thousands of spirit particles.

He turned and went over to the hole, stepping through into the adjoining room to check on the fallen Maki. He didn't like the idiot, but that didn't mean he wasn't concerned for his safety.

The other soul reaper lay very still as Anrak approached, deathly still…

…and then gave a drunken hiccup and began snoring.

Anrak twitched again and kicked the fool awake.

"Wha? Oh, I musta' dozed off. I jus' had the weirdest dream, y'know, bout a hollow eatin' another hollow an' attackin' us."

Anrak wanted to grab the useless officer by his uniform and shake some sense into him, but the urge evaporated as other hollows could be heard in the distance, responding to the death cry of their comrade…

* * *

_**- Several Hours Later -**_

The rest of the day had been spent chasing down lesser hollows and slaying them, and there had been plenty of them. Anrak himself had racked up ten kills, including the one from the condemned building. Maki, by his count, had three, including the one he'd slew earlier in the day.

The sun had set no more than an hour ago, and the hollows had stopped appearing some two hours ago. They had returned to their original post on top of the apartment-

-well, Anrak had returned; Maki had went off to do a little "scouting," or so he'd said.

Anrak couldn't bring himself to feel surprised when the officer returned with a case of beer he'd 'acquired' from a human convenience store.

_Bet that poor clerk fainted when he saw that case just float out the door_, Kagi mused.

Anrak snorted out a short laugh at the thought; yes, the human probably had been scared out of his mind since there was virtually no chance he could see the shinigami.

Still, this was grossly irresponsible; drinking on duty _and_ theft from the human world? Seriously, how the hell had Maki _ever_ made it to the tenth seat? Had Zaraki himself been too plastered to realize what he was doing? Did Maki have some sort of super-amazing fighting ability that he was keeping quiet about?

The elder Soul Reaper motioned for him to come over and share a drink, but Anrak shook his head adamantly.

"Ah, c'mon; the fightin's prolly done for today, right? Jus' relax, kid!"

Anrak blocked out the "kid" comment, knowing full well he had the appearance of a twenty-two year old _man_ rather than that of a boy.

_Twenty-one,_ Kagi corrected. _Your birthday was still a couple of days away when you-_

_**Not now**_, he thought sourly.

As for the rest of Maki's comment…he hoped that was accurate, at least; it wouldn't bother him a bit if there were no more hollow attacks until _after_ someone showed up to relieve them in the morning.

Hours passed and it was now midnight, still all quiet on the northern front.

Well, quiet except for Maki's obnoxiously-loud drunken snoring, a half-empty can of beer still in his hand as he sat propped up against a wall.

_**Useless…**_

A hollow's cry pierced the night, stirring the officer from his slumber.

"Wha? More of 'em?" he muttered, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

Anrak paid him no mind as he saw a trio of garganta open across their section of the city, hollows pouring in from Hueco Mundo.

It was the witching hour, and now the battle for northern Karakura would begin in earnest.

Wonderful.

Maki stepped up beside him to watch the spectacle, downing his last beer and discarding the can over his shoulder.

"Wow…that's a, uh…lot of hollows…" he murmured, his voice betraying his nervousness.

While Anrak would have happily accepted a peaceful evening with no more fighting, he couldn't bring himself to feel terribly concerned at the sight before him. No, instead, he felt himself growing eager for battle. Briefly, he wondered if that was Kagi's influence rather than his own feelings, but he brushed the thought aside; right now, it didn't matter.

"Then let's thin the ranks." he said, a feral grin creeping over his face. Maki took a step back, shaking his head and sweating profusely.

"Ah, I uh…no. I mean, the smart thing ta' do is ta' retreat, y'know? Come back with reinforcements, maybe…"

"Fine; _you_ can go for reinforcements, while _I _handle things here." said Anrak, now completely disgusted. This man wanted to _run_ from a fight? Squad 11 wasn't supposed to run from a battle, no matter what. He could easily picture Captain Zaraki exploding with rage at the mere mention of retreating.

Anrak leapt off the roof and sped towards the nearest collection of hollows, deciding that now wasn't exactly the best time to feel angry at the other man's cowardice.

He neared the first group and drew his zanpaktou, immediately calling K_age Shitsukoi _into her shikai form as he fell upon them mercilessly.

_Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen…_, sang Kagi happily as hollow after hollow fell under their onslaught.

"Hey…Hey! Wait up!" cried Maki as he ran up behind them panting, zanpaktou in hand. Anrak cut down the last hollow before turning to face him.

"Twenty." he announced to the elder shinigami, almost as if he were challenging Maki to do better.

"Kid, I really think we need ta' just go!" he pleaded, completely unfazed.

Anrak narrowed his eyes at the slightly-smaller man.

"There's two more groups of hollows from the other garganta; I think 'we' can handle them, Maki."

_If by 'we' you mean you and I_, Kagi sneered.

_**You know I do**,_ he thought back. After all, Maki was nothing more than dead weight.

"Those groups are even bigger than this one was!" exclaimed Maki, sounding more than a little panicked. "You mus' be outta yer mind!"

And with that, Maki turned and ran for safety, abandoning what little pride he _might_ have had, and Anrak just shook his head sadly and shunpoed off to the next-closest group of hollows.

There were more of them, sure, but they were so weak that it didn't really matter that much; they fell just as easily as the previous group, though the greater numbers meant it took _slightly_ longer. Oh well; onto the third group.

It was as the final hollow fell that he heard Maki's scream echo through the night.

Swearing vehemently, Anrak turned and took off in the direction of the scream, knowing full well he'd be too late. He skidded to a halt in a deserted intersection of the city, with three hollows surrounding the fallen form of Makizō Aramaki like vultures.

Enraged at the loss of a comrade, even if he had been a lazy coward, Anrak fell upon the three with black fury, slaughtering them like the beasts they were, the final one feeling the pent-up wrath of _Kage Shitsukoi _as a fierce, explosive blast of shadowy energy completely annihilated the creature.

And then just like that, it was over.

The destroyed hollow's bodies dispersed into the night, their now-purified souls heading to the Soul Society. No more eerie hollow calls could be heard, there was no human traffic this late at night, and there was no sound from the dead shinigami.

It was silent, horrifyingly silent.

Maki's twisted corpse lay before him, battered and bloody, his hand still clutching his zanpaktou in a tight, white-knuckled grip. He'd probably been so intent on running away that he failed to sense the three hollows, probably never even had a chance to fight back.

_Such is a coward's lot_, thought Kagi coldly.

_**Stop that**,_ he shot back harshly.

With that, he sheathed his blade and carefully knelt down to scoop up Maki's body. Somberly, he carried the fallen soul reaper back to their post to await the coming dawn and the two new soul reapers that would be dispatched as relief for the northern district.

The last two hours of the evening passed uneventfully as the morning sun peaked over the horizon, and sure enough, two new soul reapers arrived to take over his post. Anrak quietly wished them well as he picked up Maki's body one last time and disappeared into the Senkaimon.

* * *

The body was taken by Squad 4 to be prepped for a proper burial, and some hours later, Anrak found himself in the 11th division's office standing before the desk of Captain Kenpachi Zaraki being debriefed on the mission.

"So…Maki-Maki's dead?" asked Lieutenant Yachiru softly.

He nodded wordlessly.

"I bet Maki-Maki went down swinging!" Yachiru declared, suddenly becoming quite animated as she mimicked swinging a sword about wildly.

Kenpachi, on the other hand, eyed Anrak evenly as he took the news in. He suspected Kenpachi knew the truth about how Maki had fallen, but neither man saw fit to tell little Yachiru.

"Well, you killed the hollow that killed our tenth seat. Guess that makes you the _new_ tenth seat." the Captain announced gruffly.

Anrak was a bit thrown by this. A promotion was nice, yes, but he hadn't wanted it like this, _never_ like this. He opened his mouth to protest, but was promptly cut off by Yachiru.

"Yay, An-chan is the new number ten! Congratulations, An-chan!" she cheered excitedly. "I'm gonna go tell the rest of the squad the news!"

With that, the tiny pink-haired terror of the Seireitei took off down the hall heading to the barracks.

There was a long and uncomfortable silence before Zaraki spoke again.

"He died running, didn't he?"

There was no point in lying to Zaraki, so Anrak merely nodded again.

"I sent the fool so he could gain some courage, not die stupidly." he grunted. "Whatever…you'll probably be a thousand times more useful in the long run."

Anrak couldn't decide if he should feel grateful for the compliment or mortified by how callous Zaraki was being about Maki's death.

In the end, he decided to feel grateful; after all, Squad 11 had never been known for it's sentimentality, and death in the line of duty was just an easily-accepted fact of life around here.

His thoughts were interrupted by the imposing captain again.

"Go get yourself cleaned up and take it easy for a while; I'll call for ya' when there's a new assignment."

Anrak bowed respectfully, thanking his captain as he departed the office. He'd forgotten that his uniform was still filthy from the battling, covered with dirt, black hollow blood, and Maki's blood. Sighing, he headed to the barrack showers, still trying to recover from the day's events.

He'd never seen a comrade die before, and while that by itself hadn't been enough to truly disturb him, it was how utterly business-like Zaraki had treated the news, simply _giving_ him Maki's seat without a second thought.

_Better get used to it, baka; this is war, and you're in Squad 11; it's only going to get worse from here._

It was not a comforting thought.


	5. Captains: Past, Present, and

**Captains: Past, Present, and...**

If there was anything Makizō Aramaki had failed at more than being an officer, it was cleaning. Anrak stood in the middle of Maki's - no, _his_ room - and surveyed the mess. It was a disaster; clothes, trinkets, empty sake jugs, and trash heaped about everywhere, and the entire room positively _reeked _of alcohol.

Officers tenth seat and above were afforded their own quarters rather than sleeping in the barracks with the unranked shinigami like the eleventh through twentieth seats had to, and Anrak would have assumed that _normal_ people would appreciate such a privilege enough to keep it tidy.

Not Maki, apparently.

The good news was that being the new tenth seat gave Anrak the authority to delegate responsibilities, and he made the best of it by grabbing two of the unranked squad members and tasking them with cleaning out mess. Throw the junk away, keep it for themselves, whatever; just as long as it was removed from his room, he didn't care.

They'd be busy all day, of that there was little doubt; mountains of junk to move, floors and walls to scrub, a new mattress for the bed, windows to be cleaned, and finding a way to remove the overwhelming stench of alcohol…

_They might be working on that for the next three days_, Kagi mused.

Not an unreasonable assessment, really.

He would have felt guilty about forcing others to clean the room for him, had he not caught these two harassing some droopy-eyed kid from Squad 4. He clearly wasn't any kind of fighter, just a healer, and a very timid one at that. Anrak had berated the two men when he'd come across them, and finally told them that he had a 'special' job just for them, something to keep them out of trouble.

Those two would probably never harass that Squad 4 kid again after this, and that thought brought him some joy.

_That kid reminds me a lot of how _you_ used to be when you first came to the Seireitei…_

He ignored Kagi's commentary and stood in the doorway, watching his two new maids clean the pig-sty of a room for a few minutes, drinking in their misery as they sifted through the endless piles of trash. The look on their faces when he told them he expected it to be "spotless" had been positively priceless.

After he'd left, he'd went straight to Zaraki's office, seeking his own assignment for the day, hoping for a chance to go back to the living world and maybe, just maybe, encounter one of these fabled "arrancar" he'd heard so much about.

No such luck; the captain didn't have any jobs worth a seated officer's attention and had dismissed him.

"Do whatever you want; I'll send for you if something pops up." Zaraki had said.

Great, just freakin' great.

_Let's go train! I've got something new to show you!_

_**A helmet? **_he shot back, hopeful.

_You don't need a helmet, baka!_

Of course not; knowing Kagi, she'd probably _never _let him have a helmet for his bankai, instead citing that his head was plenty hard enough on it's own. He sighed, knowing it would be useless to try and argue with her.

_**Show me, then.**_

Kagi gleefully yanked his conscious mind into her little corner of hell and revealed herself to be clad in the armor.

"Notice anything new?" she asked, clearly pleased with whatever she'd done.

Anrak walked around her, examining the suit bit by bit and thinking hard, comparing it to what it had been the last time he'd summoned it. Finally his eyes settled on her elbows.

"Those spikes." he said, referencing the half-inch spikes that hadn't existed previously. She nodded happily, and Anrak felt disappointed in what he saw.

Kagi must have noticed the look in his eyes, as she began to explain.

"You shouldn't take it at face value." she said, grinning wickedly. At that, the "spikes" extended and became ten-inch blades jutting from her elbows.

"Ideally," she began, "your opponents will think the same as you, and pay no attention to such small spikes. If someone gets behind you, now you can slice into them without even turning around."

It was somewhat more impressive and useful than he'd first thought, but he'd still prefer a helmet.

Not that he'd dare tell that to her.

"It's great, Kagi; I'm sure it'll come in handy." he said, forcing a smile.

She bought it apparently, as she grinned ear to ear with pride, suggesting they go practice with it underneath Sōkyoku Hill in the secret training area Urahara and Yoruichi had built so long ago.

He nearly agreed with her and had she not been holding the second sword that came with his bankai, he probably would have. Instead, it dawned on him that he had never been trained in how to fight while dual-wielding, and with the Seireitei at war, he might need his bankai any day now.

He blinked, coming out of Kagi's dark little world, realizing he was standing beside the division's dojo.

_**Perfect! Ikkaku can-**_

-_no, Ikkaku's a master with one sword, not two…besides, he's part of Hitsugaya's taskforce, _echoed Kagi in his head as she realized his concerns.

And she was right; in all of the Soul Society, there were only two men who had mastered the art of fighting with dual zanpaktou: Captain Shunsui Kyōraku of Squad 8 and Captain Jūshirō Ukitake of Squad 13.

_You could ask them, maybe_…

Perfect, just what he wanted to do; go annoy the captain of another squad…

Still, he supposed it was a necessary evil.

He grabbed a second sword, an ordinary blade, from the dojo and headed off to Division 8, slightly annoyed at the prospect of having to turn to another squad for help.

At least he felt somewhat better when he saw his two "helpers" go by wearing breath masks and pushing a wheelbarrow overflowing with junk…

It wasn't surprising in the least that when he went by the office for Division 8, Captain Kyōraku was nowhere to be found. Sighing, he tried to hone in on the elder man's spiritual pressure, using it to track him down.

He found the captain lounging underneath a tree, not too far from the small Koi pond the division maintained. His trademark hat was pulled down over his face, and judging by the steady rise and fall of his chest, Kyōraku was sound asleep. Not wishing to disturb the man, Anrak turned to leave, wondering if he'd have better luck with Captain Ukitake…

"It's a little rude to leave without at least saying hello, you know…" came a relaxed voice behind him. Anrak turned back around to see that Captain Kyōraku had lifted his hat off his face to look at his visitor, wearing a big, easy-going smile that was very disarming.

"I thought it more rude to bother a man who was sleeping." said Anrak, bowing.

The captain sat up, smirking.

"Alright, I'll give you that one; it probably _did_ look like I was asleep." he chuckled for a moment before looking Anrak over. "I don't recognize you; you one of my squad?"

"No sir; I'm Squad 11, Tenth-Seat Anrak Ushii."

Kyōraku raised an eyebrow at that.

"Unusual for someone from Zaraki's squad to come 'round these parts; what can I do for you?"

"Well, Captain, I was hoping you could help me with my swordsmanship, as only you and Captain Ukitake have mastered the art of twin zanpaktou."

_That_ certainly got the other man's full attention, as he stood up upon hearing it. Dual zanpaktou were _extremely_ rare, so much so that they were the only two known to have them. The captain looked at him for a moment, eyeing the swords on his hip.

"The second one there, it's not a zanpaktou." he announced finally, sounding a bit disappointed.

"No, it's not…I only gain a second when I release, so I thought I could use this to train."

"Ah, I see; Captain Ukitake's zanpaktou splits into two only when he releases his _shikai_ as well."

Involuntarily, Anrak flinched at the assumption it was for his _shikai_ release, but said nothing, hoping the captain hadn't noticed his slight reaction. Unfortunately, Shunsui Kyōraku was among the most perceptive individuals in the Seireitei.

"…but it's not for your _shikai_, is it?" he asked softly, both men knowing that if it wasn't the shikai release, it could only be bankai.

"…no, sir." Anrak murmured quietly, looking away.

To his surprise, the captain grinned broadly before putting an arm around his shoulders.

"Congratulations! Not many people achieve ban-"

"Captain Kyōraku, Sir, with all due respect, I'd like to keep _that_ a secret for a while longer." Anrak said quickly, cutting the other man off. He hoped the captain wouldn't be upset with him for his rudeness, but he really didn't want to risk anyone overhearing that he had achieved bankai, not yet.

And thankfully, the captain wasn't angry; instead, Shunsui smiled kindly at him.

"Alright, a secret it'll stay. If anyone asks me, it's just for your shikai. Course, you can't keep it quiet forever, but I think you're smart enough to know that."

He nodded solemnly; he knew alright, but he didn't want to reveal anything until it was guaranteed to make an impact on all those who'd doubted him, or when faced with an opponent that was finally worth his true strength.

_**Like an arrancar**_, he thought wistfully.

Kyōraku beckoned him to draw his zanpaktou and he obliged.

"In order to master a dual-sword style, you need to start by training your offhand to do the same things your main hand does; open doors, write letters, manipulate eating utensils, and fight. Now, since you'd normally grip your single blade with your right hand in the dominant position on top, do so with your left now."

He did as ordered, noting as he did so how strange and unnatural it felt.

"When I fight with one sword, I trade off my hand positions to stay in practice. Right now, for you, you should only grip the sword like this from now on during practice sessions and sparring, and only resume your normal grip in a genuine fight."

With that, Shunsui drew one of his own swords and began sparring with him lightly, easing Anrak into the flow of leading with his offhand. They went back and forth for nearly thirty minutes, and for the first time in a long time, Anrak felt pretty overwhelmed.

He may have had weak spiritual pressure when he graduated the academy, but he'd been ranked as the third-best swordsman out of his class of nearly two hundred, and he'd done nothing but improve ever since then; hell, for the last century, he'd consistently placed first among all the unseated officers in Squad 11's internal _zanjutsu_ competitions.

But here and now, despite his best efforts, Captain Kyōraku was pushing him to his limits…and he knew full well the captain was going easy on him.

"Alright, that's enough of that." Kyōraku said abruptly, the easy-going smile still on his face. "Not bad, considering that's your first time switching hands like that, but I know that you can improve on that by sparring with Ikkaku."

Shunsui drew his second blade, the easy-going grin becoming a real smile of enjoyment now.

"_This_ is what you came for, isn't it? Go ahead, pull your other sword out and let's see what you've got."

He barely had time to comply before Shunsui was on him, pushing the attack. The captain was still going easy, he knew that, but Anrak still found himself being pushed back under the onslaught, the quick strikes easily overwhelming him on his left side, his offhand.

Captain Kyōraku _wasn't_ Captain Zaraki, however, and he always stopped short of actually cutting into Anrak when he broke through his defenses.

They spent another hour and a half sparring before they took a break, and then resumed for _another_ hour, with the elder man coaching him on the difference between dual-wielding as opposed to a single blade, and while Anrak wouldn't be so bold as to say he was holding his own, he could admit that he was slowly improving, gradually feeling more comfortable with having a blade in each hand.

At least, he _was_ feeling more comfortable, until he felt the menacing reiatsu of his own captain behind him.

"_There_ you are, Ushii!" bellowed Captain Zaraki. "I've been looking for you for nearly an hour now!"

"Kenny got lost!" giggled the small, pink-haired candy-fueled demon on his shoulder. Zaraki ignored her.

"You wanted an assignment? Two sissies from Squad 5 have gotten themselves pinned down by hollows on the east side of Karakura, and need someone to save their sorry asses."

_Why didn't he just send someone else instead of wasting an hour looking for us?_

Anrak ignored Kagi's question as he bowed to both captains, thanking Kyōraku for his time and acknowledging Zaraki's orders. He dropped his offhand katana and shunpoed off to the senkaimon, hoping he could get to the world of the living in time to save the two shinigami from Squad 5.

Kenpachi Zaraki stood there for a moment, watching Anrak leave before he turned to Captain Kyōraku, who had yet to re-sheath his swords.

"Since I interrupted yer little play-date, Shunsui, why don't you go a couple of rounds with me?" asked Zaraki, grinning madly.

Shunsui grinned nervously and quickly put his swords away.

"Ah, no thanks there, Kenpachi; was just about to call it a day and go start on my paperwork."

"What paperwork, Captain? I've finished it all." came the voice of Lieutenant Nanao as she walked up. Zaraki's crazed grin grew even larger as Kyōraku's excuse was destroyed.

Shunsui sweatdropped.

"Aha, don't be silly, my little Nanao; we've got a bunch of work to do back at the office!" he said, grabbing his lieutenant by her wrist and flash-stepping away before anyone could argue. Zaraki stood for a moment, feeling disappointed as the other captain fled.

"Feh, wuss."

* * *

_**- Eastern Karakura Town -**_

It wasn't hard to find the Squad 5 members, or hard to see why they needed help; though none of the hollows they were fighting were particularly strong, there were a large number of them. Just as Zaraki had predicted the other day, the presence of Hitsugaya's task force in the center of the city was attracting scores of lesser hollows looking for a tasty meal.

Yeah, _that_ wasn't going to happen.

Drawing his zanpaktou, he fell upon a hollow from above, startling the two Squad 5 shinigami momentarily.

"Who the hell are you?" asked one of them.

"Squad 11. I'm your backup."

He didn't bother to give them his name, but just saying 'Squad 11' was apparently enough as he heard the second one mutter "thank God" under his breath.

Yes, Squad 11's combat prowess was legendary, and there wasn't a soul reaper out there who could say with a straight face that they wouldn't want Squad 11 watching their back in a fight.

Anrak cut down several of the smaller hollows effortlessly before switching the grip on his zanpaktou to make his left hand the lead. He wasn't going against Captain Kyōraku's advice he thought, not really; he'd said for Anrak to only switch his grip in training rather than real combat until he was more proficient at utilizing both hands, but such weak hollows were _nothing_ if not training.

Adjusting to the new grip was difficult, but he refused to show weakness in front of the other shinigami. After a few kills, though, it began to get more comfortable, and he doubted the Squad 5 members fighting beside him could even tell that he was leading with his offhand.

Minutes stretched into hours and daylight was just beginning to fade as he struck down the final hollow, and finally all was quiet.

For himself, he was feeling a little fatigued from all the activity of the day, but he was in good shape. The Squad 5 guys, however, were less fortunate, as they both had several minor wounds to patch up. The duo, brotherss no less, explained to him that they'd volunteered for this mission just to feel like they were contributing to the war effort; after all, just because their captain had turned traitor didn't mean they had, and they wanted a chance to prove they weren't like Aizen.

They'd barely been out of the academy when Aizen had betrayed the Soul Society, and had found themselves being labeled as guilty by association by many of the other shinigami of the Gotei 13. Anrak sympathized with their plight, and made it clear that he didn't hold them responsible for the actions of their captain.

_Your own captain is a certifiable psychopath, after all,_ said Kagi, her voice containing a hint of amusement.

He would have agreed with that statement, had a new voice not appeared behind them.

"I _thought_ I felt a familiar reiatsu around here…"

Anrak's eyes widened at the sound of the newcomer's voice, a voice he hadn't heard in over a century.

He went to turn around, but before he could move, their unexpected visitor had jumped onto his back and wrapped a pair of long legs around his waist, one dark-skinned arm around his neck to hold on while the free hand ruffled his hair affectionately.

The two members from Squad 5 stood confused, their hands on the hilts of the zanpaktou as they watched the scene before them, clearly wondering if they should intervene. Anrak laughed and waved them off as his 'attacker' finally released him. He turned around, grinning ear to ear as he grabbed her into a hug and the strange woman laughed happily as she returned it.

"Long time no see." teased Yoruichi Shihōin.

"Hai, Yoruichi, _way_ too long."

Yoruichi had been one of the first people he'd met in the Seireitei when he'd graduated from the academy, and she'd certainly been his first friend. Hell, over the next few years, she become like the older sister he'd never had; always teasing him, but always concerned about him and his feelings, and taking the time to teach him the little things he'd never mastered at the academy such as hand-to-hand combat and _shunpo_. Truth be told, he'd probably have been unable to endure the hardships of being in Squad 11 those first few years had she not been around.

She'd been the captain of Squad 2 at the time, and he'd been scared out of his mind anytime she came near because of the very fact she commanded the Stealth Force and could kill him before he'd have time to blink. Still, her open and friendly demeanor had eventually put him at ease, and he'd been thankful for that, and for her friendship.

"What's this?" she asked, lightly touching the small diagonal scar on the right side of his jaw.

"A little souvenir I picked up about ten years ago…I think it makes me look older, more distinguished."

"You're one-hundred and eighty years old; do you really _need_ to look any older?"

"Oh? As I recall, _you've_ still got a good fifty years on me." he shot back.

Yoruichi gave him a small, playful shove.

"Now now, you know better than to pick at a woman's age." she said, giving a catlike grin.

They stood for a moment think, looking each other over for the many changes that had occurred over the years.

"You've let your hair grow out…it looks good on you." he said finally, lightly tugging at one of her long, purple strands.

"And you've gotten stronger, I see."

"Hai; I'm Tenth-Seat now."

"That's _not _what I meant." she said. "Or did you think you could hide it from me? Surely you didn't forget that _I'm _the one who taught you how to suppress your reiatsu…"

He averted his eyes, looking down at his feet, feeling somewhat ashamed to admit that yes, he had forgotten that fact.

"I'm sorry, I-"

And that was as far as he got before she hugged him tightly, laughing as she cut him off.

"You swore that you'd be as strong as a captain someday, and you kept that promise. I'm so _proud_ of you!"

Yes, he remembered that promise…

* * *

_**- Seireitei, 108 years ago -**_

"Some of the older squad members have been picking on you again, haven't they?" asked Yoruichi softly, her voice laced with concern.

Anrak scowled and punched a rocky outcropping, bruising his knuckles. They were in the training ground underneath Sōkyoku Hill that Yoruichi had shown to him many months ago when the captain had first taken him under her wing. It was here that she'd taught him the art of the flash-step and how to better defend himself in hand-to-hand encounters, and now, it was down here away from the prying eyes of his his squadmates that Anrak wanted to explode.

"Yes… Are they _ever_ going to let it go that I'm not as strong as they are? I mean, I do the best I can, and even without strong reiatsu, I'm one of the best swordsman in the division! Why can't I get just a little respect? Is that too much to ask?" he vented.

He sighed and slumped against the large rock, feeling defeated.

The other man in the underground chamber, Kisuke Urahara, spoke up.

"Not really, no…but if strength is all they respect, then the simplest solution is to get stronger."

"As if it's really _that_ easy." snorted Anrak.

"No, Kisuke's right." said Yoruichi. "So your spiritual pressure is weak right now; so _what_? It's just like anything else in this world; you can improve it if you really want to."

"It's just ten times harder than increasing your physical attributes." added Kisuke.

"Nothing you can't handle!" chirped Yoruichi cheerfully.

Anrak wore a sour expression on his face.

"Right…it'll just take me a few decades."

"Hey, nothing worth having comes quickly." said Yoruichi.

"Or easily." added Kisuke.

"I'm not going to win this, am I?" Anrak asked.

"Nope." said the blond-haired man cheerily.

"Not a chance in hell." laughed Yoruichi, draping an arm over his shoulder. "Look, _we've_ got faith in you; we just need _you_ to have faith in you."

"Then what do you suggest?" he asked the two elder shinigami.

"That you work at it. Hard. Get stronger. Work until you're as strong as a captain."

"Oh, well, forget a few decades; that'll take me a thousand years!"

"And you say _I_ sell myself short…" said Kisuke towards Yoruichi. The captain of Squad 2 ignored him, instead forcing Anrak to look her in the eyes.

"Promise me," she said, "promise me that you _will_ be as strong as a captain, even if it takes you a hundred years."

God damn it. She _knew_ he couldn't say no to her; knew that he respected her too much to ever even _attempt_ to.

_**Damned evil cat-woman!**_

"Hai, I promise. I'll get stronger, even if it takes the next hundred years."

The older woman grinned triumphantly at his promise.

"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?"

_**No, but living up to it will be…**_

He forced a smile and agreed with her, rather than repeat the thought that had went through his brain.

"Actually, while you're at it, you should just shoot to be a captain, too." mused Kisuke. "That's what she made me do."

And indeed, Kisuke Urahara had recently been named the captain of Squad 12, thanks to Yoruichi's pushing.

Yoruichi's golden eyes brightened at Kisuke's words as she ran to a pile of stuff they kept stored in the corner of the large training area, tossing boxes aside until she dug out a full-length body mirror. She motioned for her two companions to come over, and when they did, she shed her white captain's haori and started trying to fit it on Anrak.

"What the hell? Yoruichi, it's against the rules for a non-captain to wear-"

"I won't tell if you don't. Kisuke?"

"I saw nothing." said Urahara, looking up at the artificial sky innocently.

Again seeing no hope in arguing with the woman, Anrak relented and slid the haori on over his uniform as best he could, checking out his new appearance in the mirror.

"How's that?" asked Yoruichi, smiling.

"A little tight in the shoulders…"

"Of course it is; your shoulders are bigger than mine, dummy." she said, elbowing him. He couldn't help but smile, both at her and at the reflection in the mirror.

"It looks pretty good." he admitted finally, taking the haori off and handing it back to it's rightful owner.

"And it'll look even better when you have one of your own. Promise me you'll find a way to make it happen, Anrak."

"Hai, Yoruichi, I promise."

* * *

_**- Present, Eastern Karakura Town -**_

Night had fallen as the duo wrapped up their trip down memory lane, the two Squad 5 members listening intently to the story as they all sat together on a rooftop. It had been a hundred years since Anrak had last seen Yoruichi, and while they'd both changed, she was still every bit his "big sister."

_If it wasn't for that promise to her, you'd still be as weak as that Squad 4 kid you saved earlier today._

_**I know, Kagi, I know…**_

If he lived for another millennia, he knew he'd never be able to adequately tell Yoruichi just how much he appreciated her support during those early years.

"I still can't wait to see you with your own haori… I'm sure Kisuke can't, either." said Yoruichi, smiling softly.

Anrak didn't know Kisuke Urahara quite as well as he did Yoruichi, but the man had been nothing but nice to him, and he was sure Yoruichi was right.

"Hey, I made you a promise, didn't I? Just give me a little more time."

Yoruichi grinned at him, ruffling his hair again.

"I know…and you're not the kind who would break a promise lightly."

They sat for another three hours, catching up on what each other had missed in the past century and revisiting old memories. It felt good, really good; Anrak had, as far as he knew, absolutely no family aside from the surrogate sibling sitting across from him, laughing about how much of a "prude" Kurosaki was.

It was just after midnight when she finally stood to leave, to return to the shop Kisuke was running a couple dozen blocks away. Anrak hugged her one last time and watched her go. Without turning, he addressed the two Squad 5 members sitting behind him.

"I trust it goes without saying that this never happened, and you never heard anything, yes?"

"Ah, yes sir." they said in unison, and Anrak nodded in approval.

They'd heard Yoruichi state that he had a captain's reiatsu and was suppressing it, and he didn't want that getting around, not yet. He'd wanted so badly to tell her about his bankai, to share that triumph with her, but he couldn't with the other two shinigami present.

Ah well; now that he knew she was living in Karakura Town, finding her again would be easy enough and he could tell her some other time. Hell, might not be a bad idea to stop by and say hello to Kisuke, too, for old time's sake.

He went over and sat down beside the two other soul reapers to finish out their shift with them, sliding his hands inside his sleeves as he did so. The three began to engage in some idle chatter to pass the time and await the shift-change that would come with the morning sun. He yawned lazily as the first rays of sunlight crept over the horizon, and hoped that his room was decontaminated by now.


	6. Fleeting Tranquility

**Fleeting Tranquility**

Days had turned into weeks, and Anrak found himself with fewer and fewer missions to the world of the living as younger soul reapers were sent in his place to gain valuable combat experience. Instead, he found himself relegated to performing more "rescue missions" to save some of the newer shinigami and missions to various Rukon districts to investigate reports of Hollows.

He couldn't complain; as much as he enjoyed a good fight, he also enjoyed _not_ having to fight constantly. It gave him time to practice his swordsmanship with his offhand and time to kick back and read a book under a sakura tree, as he was doing now, with his zanpaktou laying in the soft grass beside him.

He closed his eyes and smiled as a gentle breeze came, scattering loose cherry blossoms about. Yes, he could enjoy this kind of tranquility for a long time…

Unfortunately, that wasn't an option and he knew it.

Captain Hitsugaya's taskforce had been recalled to the Seireitei a few days ago, and word was spreading that the human Orihime Inoue had betrayed them all and joined Aizen's forces, that the so-called "final showdown" was drawing ever-closer.

_They're half-right, at least_, Kagi muttered inside his head.

He grunted softly in agreement as he went back to reading his book; he didn't know Inoue personally, but from what he knew _of_ her, it was highly unlikely she had truly abandoned the Soul Society in favor of Aizen. Instead, he found it more likely that she had been either taken against her will, or coerced into going under the threat of violence.

Not that old man Yama would have any of that; to him it was clear as day that she had willfully betrayed their trust and joined the enemy.

_Just like Rukia's crimes had _clearly_ warranted execution, right?_

He didn't chide her for the sarcasm in her statement, as he shared the sentiment. Yamamoto was too focused on ancient and outdated rules that defined everything in terms of black-and-white, good-and-evil. There was no middle ground to him, no gray areas.

It was maddening, and he knew he wasn't the only shinigami to think so; even some of the captains had expressed their concerns with the rigidity of which Yamamoto handed out these judgments. The general hope among the other shinigami was that when the new Central 46 was assembled, they would be more open to reason than their predecessors and Yamamoto.

He turned the page by force of habit, though he wasn't even reading anymore. He was too caught up in his own thoughts to truly register the words on the page or the imagery they might bring to mind. Today was a fine day for reading, but he just couldn't focus on the adventures of this fictional "Hitokiri Battousai" character when there were far more pressing (and real) issues at hand. Anrak slipped the piece of midnight blue silk cloth that he used as a bookmark between the pages and closed the book, laying it beside him.

Anrak glanced upwards at the blue sky that was partially obscured by the tree branches and cherry blossoms and sighed. A day like this was just _too _perfect and sooner or later, it was going to be ruined; such tranquility was always fleeting.

He was in the wooded area that passed was claimed by Division 2 as part of their training grounds, in the very middle of the small forest, and while he knew many of the stealth force didn't approve of him hanging around on their grounds, Captain Soifon seemed to permit it, and no one would dare question her.

Yoruichi had been the one to plant the seven sakura trees out here over a century ago, as one of her last acts as commander of the stealth force before she left the Seireitei.

Well, no; that wasn't _entirely_ accurate.

Yoruichi had acquired the trees from _somewhere_ (most likely the Kuchiki estate, Anrak thought), and he, Kisuke, and a much-younger and less-angry Soifon had ended up actually planting them for her. He still wasn't sure how the three of them had ended up as Yoruichi's personal gardeners for the day, but the end result was so breathtakingly beautiful that no one had given it any further thought when all was said and done.

Anrak had half-expected that Soifon, in her anger over Yoruichi's departure, would have the trees destroyed when she took over the division, but to his surprise, she had not. He didn't dare ask why, lest it encourage her to finally do so. His personal assumption was that she came out here by herself sometimes to sit, though he had no proof of that.

No one else knew of the area outside the stealth force, and that was perfect; the very nature of their training was quiet, which meant this was one of the most peaceful and relaxing areas in all of the Seireitei.

"I _knew_ I'd find you here." snarled a voice off to his right. He turned and looked, only to see the petite captain in question standing there, her arms crossed and wearing her trademark scowl.

Anrak pretended to be unfazed by the venom contained in her glare.

"Hello, Captain Soifon; to what do I owe the honor of this visit?" he asked, giving a polite smile even though he knew full well that it would only irritate her further.

"Can it, Ushii; your idiot captain is looking for you. There's a meeting at the Squad 1 barracks with Head-Captain Yamamoto, and Zaraki has requested your presence."

Well, _that_ was certainly a surprise. Why in the hell would Zaraki want him present for a meeting with old man Yama?

He stood and retrieved his book and zanpaktou, sliding the sword back into it's rightful place on his left hip.

"Why do you come out here so much? This isn't your division and Lady Yoruichi is long gone." Soifon asked, the irritation evident in her voice.

_And you think _I'm_ bad? I swear, this woman has perma-PMS!_

_**You're not helping, Kagi.**_

He held up his book as part of his answer.

"You think I could get any peace over in my division to read?" he asked with a bemused smile.

She didn't answer, instead narrowing her eyes as she turned to leave, motioning for him to follow. Anrak sighed and began his trek to Division 1, with the angry captain taking point.

"That a hint I'm not welcome anymore?"

"You were _never_ welcome, Ushii; you just kept inviting yourself over."

Ouch.

There was a slight pause after that, though, and Soifon spoke again.

"However, so long as you do not get in our way, your presence is…tolerable; you _did_ help plant those trees, after all."

He allowed himself a small smile at that, feeling as if he'd won a victory of sorts. He knew she'd forgiven Yoruichi finally, and he also knew that she agreed to let Anrak continue his visits only because it would please the former captain.

Soifon said no more, and neither did he; she wasn't known for her patience with others, and it would be best to avoid saying anything that might provoke her. Rather, he began to wonder about the reasons for which he could be summoned to a meeting with his captain and old man Yamamoto, and he could find only one explanation; Renji.

* * *

_**- 2 Nights Ago -**_

Anrak was off-duty for the evening, and damn, had it been a rough day; a little bit of training with Captain Kyōraku again, followed by yet _another_ rescue mission to the living world, which was followed by investigating reports of a hollow sighting in the woods outside West Rukon 1. A little sake to unwind sounded like a good idea, provided he didn't allow himself to get hammered.

He walked into the sake bar, took a look around at the handful of soul reapers, and saw a mass of wild red hair off in the corner. He grinned, having momentarily forgotten that the taskforce had been recalled and that his friend was back in the Seireitei. He grabbed an empty sake cup from the bar and went to sit down beside Renji, pouring himself a drink from the other man's sake jug.

Normally, this would prompt the redhead to bicker with him about getting his own god-damned sake, and would end with the two of them so drop-dead drunk that they couldn't remember their own names.

Instead, Renji didn't even seem to notice him.

"Yo, Renji, you okay?"

"Eh? Oh, hey." grunted the other shinigami, barely taking his eyes off his own sake cup.

It didn't take a genius to notice something was troubling him, and Anrak wasn't willing to let his friend sit there and deal with it alone.

It took a while to get Renji to open up, and when he did, he had a _lot _of venting to do.

"A traitor! Can you _believe_ that crap? After everything we've been through, everything she's done, they're saying she's a traitor! Christ, it's almost like Rukia's trial all over again!"

"So, I take it that means they're not going to stage a rescue attempt…"

"Hell no. Yamamoto's already written her off as an enemy, so why would he send a rescue party?" said Renji, sneering as he said Yamamoto's name.

Anrak could understand his friend's frustration; there was clearly more to this than old man Yama was seeing, and the Inoue girl most likely did need to be rescued.

Of course, he was well aware that just because Yamamoto wouldn't sanction a rescue party didn't necessarily mean there wouldn't be one; Kurosaki had proven his willingness to charge headlong into impossible odds when he raided the Seireitei to save Rukia several months earlier, and there was no question that the other humans would go with him, with Renji and Rukia in tow.

"I'm in." he said, taking a sip of his sake. Renji glanced up at him.

"What do you mean, you're 'in'?" he asked.

"Don't play stupid, Renji; you know exactly what I mean. Kurosaki's going after her, and you're going with him, orders be damned. I want in on this."

There was a long and uncomfortable silence as Renji stared at him, perhaps wondering if Anrak was drunk.

"No." he said finally. "Look, I appreciate the offer, and Ichigo will, too, but it'd be better if you stay here; no point in dragging you down with us."

"To hell with that, Renji! Hueco Mundo is dangerous and you'll need all the help you can get!"

"Don't you get it, you fool? This is a suicide mission; we probably won't be coming back!"

"_You're_ the one that doesn't get it; I don't give a damn if it _is _suicide, I want in!" Anrak declared, slamming his fist down on the table.

The two glared at each other angrily for several long seconds, both men refusing to back down.

"Fine, have it your way; I'll come get you when we're ready to go." sighed Renji defeatedly, slumping back in his seat.

"What, don't you trust me to fight with you?" asked Anrak, feeling a bit insulted by his friend's reluctance.

"Idiot, of _course_ I do, but there's no reason to drag _everyone_ I know to hell with me; I'm not even telling Rangiku, Shūhei, Izuru, or Ikkaku about this because _they'd_ probably want to go, too!"

"You'd _really_ prefer us to stay out of it?"

"Absolutely. It'll make it easier knowing that at least _some_ of my friends are safe." said Renji, pouring himself another small cup of sake.

"Fine, I'll stay behind, but you've only got eight days."

"What the hell?"

"That's a week to get the job done, with one day to spare. If you idiots aren't back in eight days, I'm coming after you. By myself, if I have to."

"Anrak-"

"-shut up and don't argue." he growled angrily as he downed his last cup.

Renji smiled at his friend and lifted his own cup in salute.

"Eight days it is, then."

* * *

_**- Present, Division 1 -**_

Snapping out of the memory, Anrak found himself in the Division 1 barracks standing alongside Captain Zaraki and all of the other Squad Captains and their Lieutenants. He listened as Yamamoto explained the situation to all, and sure enough, it had to do with the disappearance of Renji, Rukia, and the substitute shinigami himself, Kurosaki.

"How could this have been allowed to happen? Captain Kuchiki! Captain Zaraki! You two were in charge of retrieving the taskforce and overseeing their return to the Seireitei."

"Yeah, we were, but you didn't say nothin' about lockin' them up when we got back." said Zaraki, grinning ear to ear, clearly enjoying the situation. Yamamoto's eyes narrowed even further, showing that he didn't share Zaraki's amusement in the least.

"Someone _had_ to have known something!" proclaimed the Head-Captain, and Anrak did his best to look innocent. Ancient and wizened eyes passed over him, thankfully not stopping to focus on him, and nothing was said. Internally, he let out a small sigh of relief.

"Captain Kurotsuchi, what is the status of the artificial Karakura Town?"

Eh? This was news; a fake Karakura?

"Construction on the town is proceeding ahead of schedule; it should be completed in three more days." replied the white-faced captain of Squad 12.

Yamamoto nodded sagely at the news and Anrak was still wondering what the hell a fake Karakura was needed for. He was apparently the only one in attendance who didn't know, and no one seemed to be inclined to explain it to him.

"While we do have a soul reaper currently stationed in the real Karakura, the duty of keeping the town safe fell primarily on Kurosaki's shoulders; in his absence, we will need to appoint someone new to watch over the town for the next three days until the fake Karakura is ready."

"Got that taken care of…" said Zaraki as he shoved Anrak out of his place in life to stand before Yamamoto. Quickly, Anrak regained his composure and stood at attention before the Head-Captain.

"Tenth seat Ushii here keeps askin' for more and more missions…takin' over as protector of Karakura should be a good one for him." Zaraki continued.

"Outrageous!" exclaimed Soifon. "A tenth seat will be no match for the level of activity that town has been facing lately! You should send a third seat at least, maybe even a lieutenant!"

"With my taskforce no longer present and Kurosaki and his friends gone to Hueco Mundo, the level of spiritual pressure in Karakura has dropped significantly, making it less-appealing to Hollows. A tenth-seat _should _be sufficient to deal with anything that remains." reasoned Hitsugaya.

Yamamoto paused, apparently considering the words of both captains before he turned back to look at Anrak. He met the old man's gaze evenly, and then felt the crushing weight of his reiatsu as Yamamoto probed him, testing his strength.

_**So heavy!**_

_Don't you dare kneel, baka!_

Even without Kagi's influence, he absolutely _refused_ to give in to the overwhelming urge to drop to a knee underneath the pressure, opting to stand his ground.

"Squad 11, tenth-seat Anrak Ushii, can you handle the task before you?" asked Yamamoto gravely.

"Yes, sir!" barked Anrak as fiercely as he could, still refusing to buckle under the incredible spiritual pressure focused on him. The Head-Captain peered at him for a moment longer, evaluating the younger shinigami before stepping back and suppressing his reiatsu again.

Anrak felt incredibly grateful to have the pressure removed, but said nothing.

Yamamoto nodded at him, looking somewhat satisfied.

"It is decided, then; Ushii will watch over the town until the fake Karakura is completed in three days."

"That makes you a substitute for the substitute!" grinned Captain Kyōraku from his spot in the line of captains and lieutenants.

Positively _wonderful._


	7. Substitute for the Substitute

**Substitute for the Substitute**

As he tapped the spirit's forehead with his zanpaktou and watched it cross over to the Soul Society, Anrak reflected on his short time as Kurosaki's replacement. In the past eight hours, he'd covered about thirty-two miles in the city, performed five _konsō _rituals, but had yet to find a single hollow.

"Why am I here again?" he muttered to himself.

Indeed, this was a waste of his skills; the actual shinigami assigned to Karakura, however weak he was, could handle this by himself.

Still, on some level, he supposed his presence was a necessary precaution; Karakura had seen a lot of activity the past few weeks, and while it was slow presently, that could change at any time.

_Let's hope it changes soon_, growled an irritated Kagi.

For himself, Anrak was at least pleased with helping five lost souls find their way; after all, helping spirits cross over was a shinigami's primary duty, and he took a great deal of pride in it. Kagi, on the other hand, would only be happy when she tasted the black blood of a hollow.

_You make it sound like a bad thing!_

**_It can't always be about fighting, Kagi._**

Not surprisingly, she ignored his reply and continued sulking. Anrak scowled as he tried to block out her complaints; he really didn't want to end up arguing with her today.

The schools were letting their students out now, and Anrak perched himself on top of a streetlamp as he watched the humans pour out from the building. He smiled, remembering his own days at the academy and how he'd always looked forward to getting out of those stuffy classrooms at the end of the day.

A person's true education in life, he mused, didn't come from words in a book or notes on a blackboard inside a cramped room; it came from going out into the wide, open world and experiencing things firsthand.

He watched the students leave the campus, and was quite surprised when one of them began shouting hysterically and pointing at him.

"What the hell? There's some samurai guy up there! Don't you people _see_ him? What's wrong with you?" exclaimed the teen in a very overly-dramatic fashion.

A dozen or so pairs of eyes turned upwards at the streetlamp, and then promptly turned away as they saw nothing.

"Really, Mr. Asano, your imagination is out of hand… " muttered another teen beside the boy as he tinkered with a cell phone.

"B-b-but he's right _there_, I swear!" pleaded the first kid. No one paid him any attention anymore, however, and kept walking…

… except for one girl with short, dark hair, who continued to stare at the streetlamp. Asano had moved on, muttering something about everyone else being blind, but the girl stood there and stared, meeting Anrak's gaze evenly. He held up a hand, favoring her with a slight wave before he flash-stepped away, reappearing on the roof behind her.

She apparently couldn't sense where he'd moved to as she didn't turn around and look up, but he could tell from her body language that she was surprised.

He was surprised, too; it was rare for an ordinary human to be able to see spirit beings, and he'd just encountered two.

_Must be Kurosaki's school; his uncontrolled reiatsu has been affecting his classmates_, reasoned Kagi, sounding nearly as surprised as he was.

He nodded. It made perfect sense, after all; continued exposure to high concentrations of spirit energy was known to affect creatures in the world of the living, and that was the very reason why lieutenants and up had eighty percent of their power sealed away via the _gentei reiin_, or 'soul-limiting seal' when they visited the human world.

The sudden cry of a nearby hollow attracted his attention, snapping him out of his thoughts and back to reality.

_Finally!_ cheered Kagi.

Anrak dropped to street level and sped off in the direction of the howl, almost as eager for some action as Kagi was.

He found his prey only a couple of streets away, a moderately-sized catlike hollow, clinging to the side of a building. He drew his zanpaktou and leapt at the beast, intent on cutting it in half, but his blade only carved into the brick wall as the beast took off, sprinting as it clung to the side of the building.

"Great, a runner… " he mumbled.

A runner was generally a shinigami-sized hollow that had only bestial intelligence, and while they were incredibly aggressive and predatory towards lost spirits and humans with high reiatsu, they had an instinctive fear of shinigami and would flee when confronted by one, forcing a chase.

Anrak supposed that he _could _use his shunpo to end it quickly, but that might be boring; a good chase through the city could be mildly entertaining-

-and that was as far as his musing got as a pair of hands grabbed him and chucked him into the passenger seat of a pink car. Moving quickly, his 'kidnapper' ran around to the other side of the vehicle and hopped in the driver's seat.

"Don't you worry, kid; we're gonna catch that bad spirit!" he declared as he cranked the engine and floored the accelerator.

What the hell was this? A _third _person that could see spirit beings?

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded.

"Don Kanonji, the century's premier spiritualist!" declared the dark-skinned man as he removed his hands from the steering wheel, crossed them over his chest, and gave a loud, boisterous laugh. Seeing this, Anrak panicked and lunged for the steering wheel, attempting to keep the vehicle from careening into anything as the fool finished laughing and finally took control again.

"Are you out of your freaking _mind_?" snapped Anrak, a vein throbbing in his forehead.

Kanonji ignored the question, instead asking if he was a friend of Ichigo's.

_Kurosaki_, hissed Kagi.

Anrak just groaned.

**_Why am I _not_ surprised that this nutjob is an acquaintance of his?_**

While he wasn't a driver himself, Anrak had spent enough time in the human world to understand a few fundamentals of the road, and he was quite sure that Kanonji was breaking a few dozen road rules, not the least of which was the speed limit. Be that as it was, he could see the hollow up ahead now, back on ground level as it dashed through the streets, zigzagging around cars.

Kanonji managed to get the car alongside the beast as it moved onto the sidewalk, knocking humans out of the way as it ran in fear.

"Can you hit that thing from here?" asked Kanonji.

"Let's see… " said Anrak, leaning out the window without his sword. It had been a long, long time since he'd practiced his kidō, least of all the spells that took precision, and he hoped he remembered enough to get the job done. He held out an open hand, aiming his palm towards his target.

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hadō #31, Shakkahō!" he cried, summoning forth a ball of red fire that he shot towards the fleeing hollow.

The catlike creature swiftly dodged the shot, which instead blew up a public mailbox, sending blue metal and charred letters everywhere.

Gritting his teeth, Anrak tried again, but at that moment, Kanonji swerved the car to avoid rear-ending another vehicle, and the sudden movement jarred Anrak, disrupting his aim as he shot into the street itself, destroying the pavement. He saw a manhole cover get launched some thirty feet into the air before it came crashing down on a parked car, destroying the front windshield and triggering some sort of irritating alarm.

_You're doing more damage than the hollow is!_ laughed Kagi hysterically.

Anrak frowned and pulled himself back inside the car, looking over at Kanonji.

"No, no I can't." he said, answering the man's earlier question.

The hollow turned a corner, and Kanonji cut the wheel sharply to follow suit, the car going up on two wheels momentarily. Anrak looked out of his passenger side window and saw the ground rising up towards him forward and braced himself for a rollover that thankfully, never happened as gravity pulled the car back down onto all four wheels again.

"You don't have any way to stop it or slow it down?"

"My bakudō skills are even worse than my hadō skills." he muttered.

"Kid, you _really_ need to practice that stuff." chided Kanonji.

"Yeah, try telling that to my captain… " Anrak said sourly. Seriously, did this fool even know what bakudō and hadō were?

The hollow had moved back onto the street and gotten ahead of them again, and Kanonji paid as little attention to street signs as the beast did.

"Hey, Kanonji, that red light means 'stop', right? Right?" asked Anrak as they rapidly approached a busy four-way intersection.

"Don't you worry, I got this!" whooped Kanonji as he sped up instead. Eyes wide with terror, Anrak clutched the interior handle of the car door and screamed as they shot through the intersection, cutting off a half-dozen cars that were forced to swerve to avoid a collision, leaving a small pile-up behind them and a lot of angry people.

As he forced himself to calm down, he briefly saw Kagi inside his inner world, rolling around on the ground and clutching her sides as she laughed at the situation.

**_I'm _so _glad you're amused_**, he thought sarcastically.

She was too busy giggling to respond as the car hit a bump and went airborne, and Anrak latched onto the door handle in panic again as the pink monstrosity sailed through the air. Time seemed to slow as they flew before finally snapping back to full-speed as the car came crashing down hard, sending a shower of sparks into the air as the car's underside hit the concrete.

And _still_, the hollow was ahead of them.

The flash-step option was really starting to look good right about now.

"Look, just pull over and let me out and I can end this… "

"Don't be silly; how you gonna catch that thing on foot? Kid, you got a lot to learn if you're gonna be _my_ apprentice."

"Your _what_?" shouted Anrak, not believing the nerve of this guy.

Kanonji nodded solemnly.

"I can see you've got a lot of potential, just like Ichigo, and it is my duty to help you realize that potential!"

Anrak's hands clenched into fists as he contemplated bashing the other man in the head as Kagi continued to laugh uproariously, tears streaming from her eyes by now.

His temptation evaporated as he saw the hollow make a sudden turn and dash into an office building, crashing through the glass of the front door. Kanonji saw it, too, whipping into the parking lot abruptly and neatly fishtailing into an open parking space.

_**Freedom!**_

Anrak didn't even wait for the engine to shut off as he threw the door open and escaped the pink death machine that was Kanonji's car. He dashed into the building, following the hollows trail through the broken glass. The wooden door leading to the stairwell was splintered open, and he ran inside, sprinting up the steps three at a time, looking for a sign of which floor the creature had come out on.

It was the door leading to the fifth floor that called out to him, what with being completely tore off its hinges and all, complete with frightened shrieks coming from the humans.

He burst through the open door and found himself in a maze of office cubicles, with papers and files flying everywhere, the humans looking about wildly for an explanation as to what invisible force was tearing through their workspace. While Anrak couldn't visually see the creature itself for the cubicles, the flying papers, noise, and shaking cubicle walls made it easy to follow.

He opted for what appeared to be a short-cut, intent on heading it off at the pass. As the hollow rounded a corner, Anrak was waiting, and he lunged forward, tackling the creature. The two went tumbling down an aisle before the hollow managed to use its powerful hind legs to kick the shinigami off and send him crashing into and through a cubicle, completely destroying it and the desk computer that had been within before coming to a rest beside the water cooler.

Kanonji finally made it up the stairs, announcing his arrival with his obnoxiously loud laugh and declaring that "The spirits are always with you!"

"Mister Kanonji, you have to help us! We're being attacked by evil spirits!" cried one of the female office workers.

**_Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding me; they're asking _him_ for help?_**

"Don't you worry none, citizens! One of those spirits is my new apprentice, and he's going to help me exorcise the evil spirit!"

Anrak growled, and helped himself to a small cup of water from the cooler, not caring how it looked to the humans in the room at this point. He drank down the cool water and discarded the empty paper cup over his shoulder, trying to ignore crazy Kanonji and his antics as he went back to stalking his prey.

Quietly, carefully, he crept around the office, stretching out with his reiatsu to find the hidden hollow. The humans had quieted down with Kanonji's arrival, proving that the man was good for something after all. Finally, he located his target on the other side of a cubicle partition, hiding and waiting for him to pass.

_Death from above!_ cried Kagi gleefully inside Anraks head as he leapt over the cubicle wall and came down on top of the creature, grabbing it in a headlock and punching it's masked face repeatedly, taking out the frustrations of his nightmarish day on it.

The hollow struggled valiantly, and after taking a dozen or so blows to the face, managed to squirm free and attempted to run.

"Not this time!" shouted Anrak, lunging forward and grabbing it by the tail tightly. The hollow shrieked and kept trying to run, but Anrak had the tail in a death grip with his left hand as he drew his zanpaktou with his right.

He allowed himself a small victory whoop he normally reserved for stronger foes as the blade sliced the creature in half from behind, shattering its body into thousands of tiny now-purified spirit particles. After a lengthy and maddening chase through the city and dealing with crazy Kanonji, Anrak felt the small victory cry was well-deserved.

"The evil spirit has been exorcised!" declared Kanonji, which earned him a loud chorus of cheers from around the office.

Anrak stood there, literally invisible as the humans heaped their praise and thanks upon Kanonji.

It hurt to have someone else credited for his work, to be sure, but it didn't matter in the long run; the job was done, the hollow slain, and despite all the destruction caused, no one had been injured.

It was the best way to look at a bad situation, really.

He let Kanonji drink in the accolades, and while he was occupied with that, Anrak used the distraction to retreat back into the stairwell behind him, retraced his steps back out of the building, and using his shunpo, vanished before Kanonji could find him again.

He wasn't sure where he was heading as the sun set, other than somewhere far, far away from that deranged lunatic Kanonji.

Eventually, he found himself standing in front of Urahara's shop. As he stood there, contemplating whether or not to bother Kisuke, the front door opened and the former squad 12 captain stepped out, wearing a ridiculous green haori and an even more ridiculous green-and-white hat.

"Long time no see, Ushii." grinned Kisuke easily. "Rough day?"

"You have _no_ idea, Kisuke."

"Why dont you come on in and tell us about it?" offered the elder shinigami, gesturing towards the open door. At that, Yoruichi appeared in the doorway, holding a bottle of sake and grinning mischievously.

Anrak laughed and followed the two into the shop. Relaxing with old friends was truly the perfect way to end a bad day.


	8. The Substitute, Take 2!

**Substitute for the Substitute, Take 2!**

The first rays of the morning sun were just beginning their slow crawl across the sprawling cityscape of Karakura, and most _normal_ individuals were just now waking up for the long day ahead.

_But then, you've never really been normal, have you?_

_**Hush.**_

Anrak had been up since before daybreak, trekking across rooftops as he searched out hollows and lost souls for day two of being the substitute-substitute. He felt good and rested and he attributed that to actually having a good meal the night before, as well as a nice, warm place to sleep.

He hadn't intended on staying at Urahara's for the night, especially after being fed a free meal, and had politely declined when the elder man had offered him use of the spare room. Anrak wasn't one to mooch off of others, despite Urahara's assurance that Renji did it all the time.

Unfortunately, Yoruichi was there, and Yoruichi hated the word 'no', even if it was accompanied by nicer words such as 'thank you.'

He'd tried to reason with her, he really had…but it was a futile gesture; it was some unwritten law of nature that older siblings, even if they were just adopted siblings, were _never _rational when it came to their juniors. As such, Anrak had ended up facedown on the floor with Yoruichi sitting on his back and twisting his arm around behind him in an excruciatingly painful arm bar until he gave in and accepted the offer to stay.

He realized she was merely looking after him like always, but damn, that arm bar had hurt like hell.

_At least Kisuke got a laugh out of it, right?_

_**He wasn't the one laughing the loudest, now was he?**_

Kagi only giggled, not even bothering to feign innocence at the accusation.

Anrak had little doubt that he'd be welcome back tonight, too, though he didn't plan on it; he'd imposed on his friends enough and sleeping on a roof somewhere wouldn't kill him. Besides, there was always something so serene and peaceful about sleeping under the night sky, something that simply couldn't be captured in a stuffy room.

He dropped down from his current rooftop, lightly landing on top of a bus as it stopped to pick up a group of kids bound for school. He crouched down to steady himself as the bus began to drive, taking in the scenery around him.

The world of the living was truly a fascinating place when you got down to it, with all the interesting gadgets and conveniences that humans generally took for granted. The bus below him was a prime example; automobiles in the Soul Society would certainly make traveling through the vast areas of the Rukon much faster.

Then again, considering the noise generated by automobiles, combined with the toxic fumes they spat forth…maybe Soul Society wasn't really missing anything after all.

But other things, like city-wide electric lighting for the streets and houses would be a _definite_ improvement; as it was, only a select few areas within the Seireitei had the privilege of electricity, like division offices, the infirmary and the central library. Individual quarters, even for captains, had to make do with candlelight, and the darkened streets were only illuminated by torches.

The bus pulled up to the sidewalk to pick up another batch of students, and Anrak took the opportunity to hop off in favor of walking. The day was off to a slow start, just like yesterday…though he desperately hoped today wouldn't end up the same way.

Almost as if some unseen force was out to mock him, he passed a newsstand and glimpsed the headline on the morning paper in bold print: **Master Spiritualist Don Kanonji Saves Office Workers!**

He just shook his head and kept walking; irritating as Kanonji was, it was better for him to be the apparent hero than for the public at large to know about the existence of Soul Reapers.

Anrak weaved around the steady flow of people on the sidewalk, moving just enough to brush past a businessman on his cell phone before jumping off to the side as a group of school kids rushed past, yelling at the bus to come back.

It had rained lightly at some point during the night, and while the streets and sidewalks had mostly dried off, he took care to avoid the few remaining puddles; it probably wouldn't be a good idea to carelessly step in one and then have people see footprints begin to mysteriously appear on the otherwise dry concrete.

A somewhat chilly breeze blew through the street, and the humans around him all bristled but Anrak paid it no mind; after a century of wandering, he'd learned how to cope with the weather better than most.

_If only they knew the weather was the least of their worries…_

Kagi was right; the seasonal drop in temperature meant little compared to the threat Aizen posed, and the humans were blissfully ignorant of the danger looming on the horizon. Still, if everything went according to the plan Kisuke had told him about, the humans would never find out; after tomorrow, the entire population of the town would be put to sleep and moved to the Soul Society, with a fake Karakura town put in it's place. In theory, all the innocent civilians would be removed from harm's way, and Aizen would never know that the town he was fighting to destroy was a replica devoid of human souls.

_Aizen will fall, and this war will be over before you know it._

Anrak wanted to believe that with all of his heart, but he knew better. Even if Aizen was defeated, there was no way the war would simply end with his death; his more loyal followers that remained would undoubtedly seek revenge, and even worse, the power vacuum created by his demise would likely lead to infighting among the remaining Arrancar, and that would almost certainly spill out into the Soul Society and the world of the living.

A frantic cry for help rang out from across the road, and Anrak looked up to see the lost soul of a girl who couldn't have been more than fourteen being chased by a trio of hollows. The girl made it across the street and the light above turned green, but the hollows were still coming, paying no mind to the traffic in the street.

"Can you see me? Please, tell me you can help me!" she pleaded desperately, trembling.

"Hai, I can. Stay here, and I'll deal with them." said Anrak, offering her a reassuring smile.

He turned his attention back to the hollows in the street, drawing his blade as he charged into battle, heedless of the cars speeding around him.

The first one fell quickly, apparently having not even registered the shinigami as a threat until after the zanpaktou had sliced through it's neck.

The second hollow jumped backwards and Anrak slashed at it, narrowly missing the creature, but before he could move in to finish it off, a truck sped by, cutting him off momentarily, and the third one seized the opportunity to try and pounce on the Soul Reaper.

Anrak saw it coming, though, and ducked low as the hollow went sailing harmlessly overhead.

_Car!_

At Kagi's warning, he spun around and jumped up, briefly landing on the hood before springing forward again, somersaulting over the rest of the vehicle as it continued it's journey, oblivious to the fighting in the street.

The second hollow was back now, charging in with it's clawed arm raised high. Anrak dodged to the side quickly, slicing deeply into it's torso. It stumbled forward mortally wounded, it's body starting to disintegrate into purified spirit particles as a bus slammed into it. The remains shattered into countless thousands of particles under the impact, and the bus continued on uninterrupted.

The third hollow was back on it's feet now, and it gave a deep, challenging roar directed at the Soul Reaper.

Anrak smirked as a small car slammed into the beast, sending it flying. The car itself skidded to a halt, the driver acutely aware that he'd hit something, even if he couldn't see what. Anrak ran towards the fallen hollow, jumping onto the car and using it as a springboard to gain more air as he came down on the beast from above, blade aimed downward to impale it.

With one final cry, the hollow's existence was ended as the blade came down and pierced it's throat.

The flow of traffic had slowed now, as other people stopped to check on the single vehicle sitting on the middle of the road with a damaged front end, all wondering what the driver had hit. Anrak took the opportunity to calmly walk back to the sidewalk and the lost soul; after all, the only thing left to do now was to perform a konsō to help her cross over.

Strangely, the girl wasn't alone…

"I told you he'd be fine! He's one of _my_ apprentices, after all!" boasted the dark-skinned, gaudily-dressed man now standing beside her.

"Oh god, not _him_ again…" groaned Anrak under his breath.

Kagi could only laugh at his misfortune.

Forcing a smile, Anrak went over and knelt down to be closer to eye level with the girl.

"Are you ready to cross over?" he asked her.

"Cross over? To where? Why can't I stay here?"

"To the Soul Society…it's where all good people are _supposed_ to go when they die."

"Heaven?" she asked hopefully.

"Not exactly; Heaven is a misconception of what the afterlife is like." Anrak corrected, mentally cursing the misinformation that some religions spread. Too many people expected some glorious, shining paradise where all was perfect, and they were always sorely disappointed. Life, even the afterlife, was never perfect.

"I can't stay here, then?"

"Afraid not, kiddo. Don't worry, though; in Soul Society, everyone will be able to see you and hear you again, no more being invisible to the world."

Her eyes lit up at the prospect of not being alone anymore, and Anrak knew she was sold. Gently, he tapped her forehead with the hilt of his zanpaktou, and stepped back as her soul dissipated and left the human world finally.

"You did good, kid. I'm real proud of-" started Kanonji, but Anrak cut him off.

"How did you find me again?" he asked irritably.

"I heard that poor girl crying for help, and I ran to find her. I didn't expect to find _you_ here, but I'm sure glad I did! I'm telling you kid, we make a great team!" said Kanonji, perhaps getting a bit too dramatic.

So, it was just coincidence that Kanonji found him again…

_**Fan-freaking-tastic.**_

Anrak wanted to tell Kanonji off, but there was a sudden spike in spiritual pressure nearby, and it had a decidedly dark feel to it. He turned towards the origin of the disturbance, and saw a garganta opening across the city. A large, inky black hollow stepped through the opening into the world, and announced itself with an ear-splitting shriek.

"That's at the city park…what _is_ that thing?" asked Kanonji.

"_Menos_-class hollow, subclass Gillian." said Anrak, surprised. He hadn't expected to see a Menos here, though he probably should have; given all the activity the town had faced over the past few weeks, it was pretty much inevitable.

"Whatever it is, we gotta stop it!" declared Kanonji, suddenly grabbing Anrak by his shihakushō and dragging him off towards the pink death trap he called a car.

Anrak jerked himself free.

"Oh, _hell_ no! I am _never_ getting into a vehicle with you again, Kanonji! You're a menace!"

"We don't got time for this, kid!"

"Then I'll just meet you there." said Anrak, flash-stepping away. Kanonji simply stood there for a moment longer staring at the empty spot where the shinigami _used _to be before turning and sprinting to his car.

Anrak arrived at the park in seconds, and immediately he knew something was wrong.

_**This spiritual pressure…it's too much for just a Gillian.**_

Something else had come through with the giant hollow, but he didn't know what, and for the moment, he couldn't see anything other than the towering beast before him.

_**What could it be? Where is it?**_

_Worry about that later, baka!_

Heeding Kagi's advice, he jumped backwards as the Gillian reached down to grab him. It was at that moment Kanonji's car pulled into the park, ignoring the parking lot entirely as it roared through the picnic area and came to a halt a few feet behind Anrak.

"That's the biggest bad spirit I've ever seen!" said Kanonji, stepping out of the car.

The Menos shrieked again in response.

"All right, kid, let me deal with this one! Don Kanonji Ultimate Attack, Golden Kan'onball!" cried the spiritualist as he managed to gather enough of his spirit energy into the palm of his hand and create a baseball-sized sphere of glowing energy. He launched it at the giant hollow and…

…

"Could that thing be _any_ slower?" asked Anrak dryly.

"Just you wait! It'll get the job done!"

It took several agonizing seconds for the glowing ball of energy to reach it's target, and the giant hollow made no attempt to move; rather, it watched, almost as if it was curious to see if the ball would even do anything.

The condensed spirit energy finally collided with it's target and…nothing happened. The hollow stood silent for a long second before letting loose another roar that almost sounded like laughter.

"You _really_ need to work on that stuff, Kanonji." quipped Anrak, just as the other man had said to him yesterday.

_Let's show him some _real _kidō!_

_**My thoughts exactly…**_

While kidō had never been his best subject, there were a couple of spells he'd always been decent at, and out here in the empty park, he could use them freely, unlike yesterday in the middle of downtown.

"Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle! Hadō 63, Raikōhō!" he shouted to the heavens, summoning forth an explosive blast of electric-yellow energy from his palm.

Like a lightening bolt, the released energy tore through the air in a fraction of a second, slamming into the hulking Menos with such incredible force that the beast was literally torn apart, it's sickly death scream filling Anrak's ears.

Kanonji looked at the smoldering remains of the beast, dumbfounded. It took him several seconds to find his voice.

"Kid, that was _amazing_! I ain't never seen anything like that and-"

_Look out!_

Anrak reacted instantly to Kagi's warning, grabbing Kanonji and dashing to the side quickly to avoid whatever was coming.

It wasn't quite fast enough; by taking the time to grab Kanonji, he was a quarter of a second too slow, and he felt a searing pain in his right arm as claws ripped into his flesh.

"Stand still and die, Soul Reaper." growled the creature before them.

It was far smaller than the Menos, but larger than a human by a fair margin. It had the distinctive skull-like mask of a hollow, and looked a little apish, but it spoke clearly and intelligently.

This was what he'd sensed earlier, the thing that had come through with the Menos.

"It's an Adjuchas; you'd better get out of here, Kanonji." he warned, not taking his eyes off his foe. He'd never encountered an Adjuchas before, but he was well aware of how dangerous they were supposed to be.

Kanonji simply brushed past him, completely oblivious to the danger.

"I'm not leaving you to do this alone, kid!" he declared boldly, raising his diamond-tipped cane into an offensive gesture.

The Adjuchas' face twisted into an obscene and evil smile, and Anrak lunged forward to shove the foolish man out of the way again before he got himself killed.

Kanonji tumbled to the ground from the impact, and Anrak felt a stabbing pain in his abdomen. He looked down and saw the creature's hand, with three and a half inches worth of claws shoved into his stomach, blood streaming down the hollow's fingers and dripping onto the ground.

He looked up at the hollow's face just in time to see open jaws speeding towards his head, but Kanonji had gotten to his feet and intervened, blocking the creature's bite with his cane.

Abandoning his cane, Kanonji quickly pulled Anrak away from the beast, the claws sliding out of his injured stomach.

He thanked Kanonji and waved him off.

"I can still fight…I've got to finish this." he said, drawing his sword with his left hand. He knew there was no way he'd be able to fight normally with the ragged wound in his right arm, which was hindering his movements slightly. There was little choice but to fight with his offhand in the dominant position. Worse still was the wound in his stomach, which screamed in pain with nearly every move he made.

At least Kanonji wisely stepped back this time, telling him to be careful.

Anrak nodded as he and the hollow began to circle around each other slowly, each looking for an opening to attack. Unlike ordinary hollows, the Adjuchas was well aware of the danger the shinigami's zanpaktou represented.

It feinted, but Anrak refused to fall for it, instead lunging forward with his own attack, which barely connected as the hollow attempted to dodge. While he'd missed the kill shot to the head, the act of dodging had placed it's shoulder in the line of fire instead, and Anrak impaled it. The hollow roared in pain, and rather than pull his blade straight out, Anrak twisted it sideways and ripped it free, nearly severing the arm entirely.

The hollow screamed louder as it lashed out in rage and pain, slashing at Anrak with it's other hand. A quick step backward was enough to dodge the bulk of it, though he felt the very tip of the claws bite into his chest as he did so. No matter; wounds that shallow were of no concern, and would barely even bleed.

The hollow then took a large jump backwards itself, and raised it's one good arm forward, red energy crackling as it gathered at it's fingertips.

Anrak didn't even try and dodge the cero, knowing that in the creature's current state it's power would be severely weakened. Instead, he grinned as he called Kagi into her shikai form and braced himself for the impact, holding the blade in front of him to take the brunt of the impact.

The dark sword absorbed most of the energy, with the remainder being unable to do any real damage thanks to Anrak's own incredible reiatsu, which he had wrapped around his body like a second skin; the sleeves of his shihakushō were incinerated, but that was the only damage he suffered. His smile turned wicked as the blood-groove on the blade filled up and glowed red.

_**Time to end this!**_

He flash-stepped, reappearing right in the hollow's face, giving it no time to react as he brought the blade down upon it's head, unleashing Kagi's black fury upon the fiend.

The sword's explosive energy ripped through the hollow's flesh effortlessly, engulfing the body in black fire as it went downward, striking the earth with enough force to crater the ground, sending small shockwaves out in all directions for several dozen meters.

The battle was done, and the hollow was no more.

Anrak let out a long sigh as he re-sheathed his blade, having a bit of trouble doing so with his left hand. His right arm was still in a great deal of pain, and moving it any more than strictly necessary wasn't something he was willing to do. He looked down at his injured abdomen and frowned as he saw blood _still_ coming from the wounds. He could bandage his arm by himself and probably be fine; he'd done so before, though admittedly, the wounds had never been quite as deep. His stomach, however, was a different story entirely; it needed treatment, preferably soon.

_Back to Urahara!_

Kagi was right, and he knew he probably shouldn't try and run there himself. Hell, just doing that last flash-step had been excruciatingly painful, and even walking slowly, every step felt like a solid punch to the gut. He looked over at Kanonji's car and groaned.

"Maybe walking isn't such a bad idea after all…"

It was too late though, as Kanonji was already ushering him into the passenger side and asking where he needed to go for help since a human hospital would be useless.

He gave the slightly-crazed man directions to Urahara's shop, and then asked him to please, _please _drive responsibly.

By some miracle, Kanonji listened to his pleas, and during the peaceful ride back, Anrak actually feel asleep. It certainly wasn't something he had intended on doing, but exhaustion and blood loss could do funny things to a person.

He awoke to the sound of Jinta yelling for Kisuke to come quickly, which was then followed by Kisuke shouting for Tessai to get the first aid kit ready as Kanonji helped him out of the car.

Yoruichi came out of the shop, yawning and rubbing her eyes as if she'd just been woken from a nap of her own, asking what all the fuss was about. Upon seeing Anrak, though, she suddenly became wide awake, appearing at his side in an instant, shooing Kanonji away as she picked up her token brother in her arms.

"How on earth did _this_ happen?" she demanded, furious.

"Adjuchas fight dirty." he said simply, giving a little shrug. Yoruichi's expression darkened.

"I know you better than _that_; there's _no _way an Adjuchas should be able to do this to someone like you." she admonished.

"Actually, it was kinda _my_ fault…" admitted Kanonji slowly, "He was tryin' to protect me and-"

He cut off abruptly as Yoruichi affixed him with a cold glare that would put even Byakuya to shame.

Kanonji backed away, clearly realizing the danger an angry Yoruichi presented, but Anrak shook his head at her, asking her to calm down.

"Was my own fault, really." he said. "I should have been more careful."

The expression on her face suggested that she didn't really believe him, but she wasn't willing to argue the point, and said nothing.

"Kanonji!" Anrak called out before Yoruichi took him inside.

The guilt-ridden spiritualist turned to look at him, his hand on the driver's side door handle of his car.

"It was an honor to work with you, Mister Kanonji." he said. "Perhaps we can do it again sometime."

It was a peace offering of sorts; Kanonji was incredibly irritating, but he was brave, and his heart was in the right place, and that counted for a lot.

Kanonji smiled at him, the burden of guilt visibly disappearing from his shoulders.

"I'd like that a lot, kid, I really would. You take care of yourself now and get better soon."

Anrak nodded at his strange friend and waved goodbye as Yoruichi carried him into the shop, Kisuke closing the door behind them.

Yoruichi took him to the back of the shop to the spare room, and carefully laid him out on the sleeping mat in the floor as Tessai sat down beside him with the first aid kit and begin pulling out the bandages, alcohol, and a host of other things that were decidedly more unpleasant, such as a needle and thread.

As he watched Tessai dig through the kit, he felt a sudden stabbing pain in his left arm.

"Ow! What the hell?"

He turned his head just in time to see Yoruichi removed her hand, the tip of her index finger bloody. He groaned as he realized she had literally stabbed some sort of drug into him, and as his vision begin to blur, he was quite sure it was a tranquilizer.

"I _know _you." she said. "As soon as you get patched up, you're going to get up and go straight back to work. In order to prevent that, I either need to sedate you, or break your legs."

He scowled at her.

"Would it have killed you to use a syringe?" he complained, his mouth already going numb.

He saw her give a mischievous smirk in response, and the world faded to black.


	9. Seireitei Under Siege

**Seireitei Under Siege**

In retrospect, Anrak supposed that he owed his sister yet another heart-felt "thank you" the next time he saw her.

Yoruichi had been quite adamant in not letting him hit the streets for his third day as Kurosaki's replacement, instead saying Kisuke had a plan to take care of things, and that Anrak should stay in bed and rest. At the time, he'd argued with her about how unnecessary it was to rest any longer, and that his wounds had healed enough to get the job done.

Of course, she hadn't listened, and had instead sedated him again to shut him up.

That had been two days ago and now he was grateful for the extra rest afforded to him, as he had made a full recovery…and the timing couldn't have been better.

He cut down a trio of hollows in rapid sucession and dodged out of the way as a cero blast destroyed the ground he had been standing on a split-second earlier.

The Seireitei was under siege from Aizen's forces and the captains of the Gotei 13 were all elsewhere at the moment, leaving the Seireitei's defense in the hands of the three-thousand lesser shinigami, including himself.

At least old man Yama had seen this coming and had made sure to plan accordingly; there were some seven-hundred and fifty shinigami stationed at each of the four gates into the Seireitei, along with the Kidō Corp behind the wall, maintaining an added barrier to defend the city. Even the instructors from the academy had been called into action to serve in coordinating the defenses and act as battlefield commanders.

Four captains had been dispatched to Hueco Mundo to assist Kurosaki and his friends, while the remaining captains, including Yamamoto himself, had gone to the fake Karakura to engage Aizen and his top soldiers.

Anrak had _wanted_ to go to Hueco Mundo with his own captain to find Renji but once again, he'd been denied and was instead left behind to help guard the Seireitei. He supposed that he could have disobeyed and followed Zaraki, but Renji's eight days weren't up yet and disobeying a direct order from Kenpachi Zaraki was tantamount to suicide.

He was part of the group guarding the West Gate and while the battle here was fierce, it was slowly winding down; sure, the advancing hollows had them outnumbered, but it was quality over quantity in this war and most of the hollows were weak and mindless beasts as opposed to the well-trained Soul Reapers.

Other hollows, the stronger ones, like the Menos before him now, were being quickly targeted and eliminated by the seated officers such as himself.

As he cleaved upward with his fully-empowered zanpaktou and ripped the creature in half, he did take a certain pride in noting that the other officers were having a harder time than he was, and that they were working together while Anrak opted to fly solo.

_Hey!_

Well, solo aside from his trusted companion, _Kage Shitsukoi_.

_That's better, baka!_

His pride evaporated as he took a quick moment to glance out at West Rukon 1, or rather, what _remained_ of it.

All the buildings had been virtually demolished in the fighting, and many were engulfed in flames. Blood stained the streets, with bodies laying everywhere, belonging to both shinigami and civilians who'd been unfortunate enough to get caught in between the two armies.

At least the hollows didn't leave corpses when they died; instead, they dissipated into purified spirit particles which would then reform into a pure soul elsewhere in Soul Society.

They _did_ bleed, though, and black hollow blood was everywhere.

The entire scene was something straight out of a nightmare and the sounds were no better, screams from both hollows and Soul Reapers filling the pungent air.

Yes, the West Gate would hold, but at a heavy cost.

Even the weather itself was miserable today; dark gray clouds obscured the vibrant blue that was the norm and a strong, chill wind blew in from the north.

_At least _I'm_ in a good mood today!_

**_Of course_ you _would be…_** he thought bitterly.

Spying some of his comrades in need, he took off through the battlefield, jumping over bodies and cutting down minor hollows to reach them.

They were two rookies and one of them was badly injured, with his friend trying to carry him away from the front lines. Anrak glanced at the wounded youth, noticing a missing arm and a shredded leg that was likely to follow it soon, _if_ the man even survived such injuries.

_**God damn you, Aizen…**_

"Go, get him out of here! I'll take care of this!" he commanded the unhurt shinigami, interposing himself between them and the hollows trailing them. The younger reaper needed no more prodding as he picked up his bloodied friend and ran for the gate and the first aid station that lay beyond it, leaving Anrak to face the hollow horde alone.

The hollows, six of them in all, came at Anrak like a pack of rabid dogs, but they were outmatched. Stepping in, he caught the middle two with his initial swing and catching the attention of the other four. As one lunged at him, he grasped it by it's wrist and flung it into two of it's companions, using the sword in his other hand to impale the remaining one through the chest.

Three down, three to go.

Briefly, he wondered how the battle for the fake Karakura was going, as well as how the other three gates were holding up.

He wasn't overly worried about the South Gate, as that was where the bulk of Squad 11 had been stationed, along with his friend, Enjeru, the sixth seat of Squad 7. They'd been part of the same graduating class at the academy some one-hundred and ten years ago, and while they hadn't known each other too well at the time, they'd became friends since then, specifically in the past four years, as they realized there were only nine members of their class still alive within the Gotei 13.

Anrak suspected that number would be even smaller by the time the battle for the Seireitei was over.

He had confidence Enjeru would survive; what the man lacked in swordsmanship, he more than made up for with his kidō abilities.

The other seven…

…well, he hoped they survived the conflict.

But those hopes were not high.

He ducked another claw swipe and came up blade first, striking the hollow's chin and powering upward through it's skull and boney mask.

Four down.

That left the East and North gates to wonder about; how were they holding up?

He kicked the fifth hollow hard, sending it through the wall of a burning house as he brought his blade down onto the left shoulder of the other monster, tearing down to it's right hip. The creature screamed as it died, and it's brother answered as the flaming roof collapsed down on it, burying the beast.

Anrak took a moment to wipe the sweat of his brow with the back of his hand; the pitched battle had already gone on for over two hours and the physical exertion combined with the heat from all the flames had left him nearly soaked with perspiration. His standard-issue black shihakushō was tattered and torn, covered with dirt and blood and he wasn't even sure how much of the blood was his own and how much came from trying to help other reapers.

At least they seemed to be winning now, with the number of hollows beginning to dwindle significantly.

But that was still only this one gate…

He'd noticed over the past hour that there were less and less shinigami present at this battle and at first that had worried him into thinking that more of his brethren were falling before the onslaught, but he'd noticed some thirty minutes ago that small groups ranging from five to ten at a time were being redirected somewhere by the token battlefield "commanders," the academy instructors, though he didn't know where or why.

Was one of the remaining gates in danger?

_Less thinking, more fighting, fool!_

Kagi was right, as Anrak saw a shinigami fall to the ground wounded, a hollow with scythe-like arms standing over him, poised to deliver the killing blow.

"No!" roared Anrak, flash-stepping over in an instant and intercepting the deadly scythe with his own zanpaktou.

Enraged at the interference, the hollow shrieked in his face. Anrak scowled and shoved the scythe-arm up and away, then reversing direction and slashing back downwards diagonally across the creature's now-exposed chest, slicing it open cleanly.

As the hollow's corpse fell apart, he reached down and carefully helped the injured shinigami to his feet, taking care to avoid the large gash in the man's shoulder. The other man's right arm hung limp and lifeless from the deep shoulder wound…there was absolutely no way he could fight in this condition.

"Come on," Anrak said, "I'll escort you back to the aid station."

The other reaper nodded gratefully and the two headed back towards the gate.

The aid station doubled as the command post for the West Gate and it was nearly as chaotic as the battlefield, with the injured laying everywhere as healers and volunteer medics from the Rukon ran about frantically. The stench of death and blood was heavy here and there was a disturbing pile of bodies off to one side for the unfortunate patients who had been beyond help.

On top of the pile was the body of the injured youth from earlier, his mauled leg was missing, most likely amputated in a failed attempt to save him.

Mentally, Anrak cursed Aizen again as he left his wounded companion in the care of a volunteer medic. He turned to head back out into the hellish battleground, but paused as he heard the token commander yelling at a messenger.

"How the hell are we supposed to find a specific Soul Reaper in the middle of all this? What's so damned important about this guy, anyway?"

Curiosity piqued, Anrak ventured closer, listening intently.

"Unknown, sir; all I was told was to find Anrak Ushii of Squad 11." said the messenger.

_That_ certainly got his attention; why would anyone request him specifically?

"Look, unless they can give me a damn good reason, I'm not going to waste time looking for a single man!" bellowed the commander.

"Excuse me, sir, but you don't have to waste time looking; I'm right here." said Anrak.

The commander whirled, his expression furious from either the request or Anrak's eavesdropping, it wasn't clear which. The older man sized him up quickly and scowled in disgust.

"_You're_ Ushii? Why in the hell are they asking for _you_ over there?" his tone clearly stating that he felt Anrak to be beneath him.

He forced himself to remain calm, despite harboring a sudden desire to punch the man's teeth down his throat.

"I have no idea…_sir_." he said, forcing the 'sir' at the end.

"Go on, then. Get out of my sight." spat the commander, turning his back to Ushii.

He was about to ask _where_ he was supposed to go, but the messenger beckoned him to follow. Without another word, Anrak took off behind the runner, cutting through the empty streets and rooftops of the Seireitei, heading towards the North Gate with all haste.

When they arrived, Anrak found himself greeted by the two people he would have least-expected to see; Satsu and Takk, of Squad 5. He hadn't seen the two of them since he'd rescued them in Karakura weeks ago and yet they had apparently been the ones to send for him.

"Are you guys in charge of this gate?" he asked, confused. The commander, wherever he was, should be the one dispatching messengers and calling for backup, not two unranked shinigami.

"Not really, but with the commander dead, we _had_ to do something." Satsu explained.

"So we asked the messenger to go find you." Takk finished for him, with the messenger in question vanishing, perhaps going to find more reinforcements.

"Why _me_? What's going on here?" asked Anrak, now more confused than ever.

"We remember that night in Karakura…what that lady said about you being captain-level and hiding it… Sir, we _need_ you right now." pleaded Satsu. "The men feel like the captains have all abandoned us and we're getting hammered out there…even our commander is dead!"

"Dead?" echoed Anrak in surprise, "How? What happened to him?"

Takk answered by grabbing his shoulders and spinning him around to look out at the battle and he pointed out a lone figure dressed in white with dark red hair, wielding a sword…with what appeared to be a partial mask on the left side of his face.

"An arrancar…" breathed Anrak and Takk nodded.

"Commander Osun said he'd handle it, but that_ thing_ cut him down in seconds! We've been getting reinforcements in from the other gates in small groups, but it's not going to be enough with that Arrancar running around!"

Anrak probed the Arrancar's spiritual pressure as Takk spoke, estimating him to be on the level of a mid-level to high-end Lieutenant.

_**No wonder they've been having trouble; he's easily the strongest hollow I've ever seen!**_

"Do you think you can take him?" asked Satsu quietly.

Anrak tore his eyes away from the Arrancar and looked around, momentarily ignoring the junior shinigami. The battle here was going nowhere near as well as the battle for the West Gate and it reflected on the face of each and every man and woman present, their despair and fear making the air thick and oppressive.

They'd lost all hope and with that gone, they'd soon lose the battle, too. The hollow horde was already pushing the army of Soul Reapers back, inching closer and closer to the gate that they so desperately needed to protect.

"It won't be enough…" observed Anrak softly. "Look around; they've all but given up already."

"What are we supposed to do, then?"

"We give them hope, somehow…" Anrak said, trailing off as he spied something jutting out from a pile of rubble that used to be someone's home. Quickly, he ran over and dug the object out out, with Takk and Satsu looking on in confusion as he examined his prize.

"This'll do." he said, as he begin to rip a couple of holes into the white bed sheet.

"What are you-" asked Takk, but he cut himself short as Anrak slid the tattered white bed sheet on over his shihakushō, slipping his arms through the holes he'd ripped into it.

"It looks like a poor man's haori…" said Satsu, still not quite understanding.

"And at a quick glance during battle, it'll look like the real thing." said Anrak.

"Are you out of your mind? Impersonating a captain is a major offense!"

"I'm not claiming to be a captain at all; I'm just going to wear this and stop holding back. The others…they'll see what they want to see, what they _need_ to see."

He smiled as he saw the understanding dawn in their eyes then; the troops needed to see a captain, to know that they hadn't been abandoned, and Anrak was going to give it to them and maybe, just maybe, restore their hope.

"What do you want us to do?" asked Satsu.

"Keep fighting. Don't give up and make sure that no one else does, either. We can still win this…we _will_ win this."

With that, Anrak finally let go of the tight leash he'd been keeping on his reiatsu for decades, letting it flow freely and openly. Takk and Satsu took a steep back, their eyes wide and their legs buckling under the pressure as they fell to their knees under the crushing weight.

Anrak turned his attention to glare at the Arrancar standing out in the battlefield, who was challenging the lesser shinigami to come try their luck, asking if there was a worthy challenge anywhere in the lot of them.

_**Careful what you ask for…**_ he thought as he narrowed his eyes and drew his zanpaktou from it's scabbard.

"Sing, _Kage Shitsukoi!_" he commanded, summoning Kagi into her shikai state. Inky black shadows began to roll down the blade from an unknown reservoir hidden away in the hilt. The darkness clung to the blade, coating it and turning it from the silver of steel to a deep onyx even as the shadows morphed the shape of the blade into something different, shifting the blade's curve into something that was decidedly more wicked.

Kagi's transformation finished, Anrak gave a fierce war cry as he charged in, hoping his bold declaration of battle would help invigorate the flagging spirits of the other shinigami on the battlefield.

The Arrancar looked up at the sound, eyes going wide in surprise at the prospect of actually being attacked and he narrowly got his own blade up in time to block Anrak's strike.

Even then, the sheer force of the impact sent the Arrancar flying backwards, tumbling end over end in the dirt, but Anrak didn't relent in his assault; not even giving his foe time to stand up again, Anrak fell on him with a flurry of savage swings.

Scrambling backwards under the onslaught, the Arrancar barely managed to block the attacks, and was only able to get back up after he flung a handful of dirt into Anrak's face.

Cursing, Anrak shielded his eyes with his left hand as the Arrancar got to his feet and thrust his blade forward. He lowered his hand just in time to see the blade speeding towards him and narrowly dodged, taking a quick slice across his left shoulder.

_Focus!_ demanded Kagi inside his head,_ There's no way a beast this lowly should be able to harm us!_

He felt a tiny trickle of blood run down his arm, but he paid it no mind; it was an insignificant injury, too shallow to leave a scar and far too minor to distract him from fighting.

Grinning malevolently as if he had the upper hand, the Arrancar pressed the attack now, attempting to drive Anrak back.

It was a futile attempt; Anrak defiantly stood his ground, blocking and deflecting every slash and thrust his foe could throw at him. Deflecting one thrust, he stepped in and smashed the Arrancar's nose in with the hilt of his zanpaktou, sending blood flying.

_Why is an Arrancar's blood red, while regular hollows have black blood?_

_**Focus**_, Anrak shot back.

The shinigami ducked underneath a wild and angry swing that was meant to sever his head and raised his blade quickly to block a second attack coming downward, coming up and kicking the Arrancar in the gut with all his might. The force of the kick sent the Arrancar flying back again, this time through the wall of a house that was otherwise undamaged, despite the chaos around it.

The Arrancar didn't stay down long, as it came charging out of the hole with his sword poised to impale Anrak straight through his heart. Anrak merely sidestepped and swung his blade at his opponent's neck, but the Arrancar fell to his knees at the last second, narrowly missing the blade that swung over his head as he went sliding across the dirt.

The masked man grinned, dark green eyes gleaming madly as he tilted his head back to look at Anrak and fired a cero over his shoulder.

Swiftly, he raised his zanpaktou and turned it sideways to block the incoming red death with the broad side of the blade, condensing his own spiritual energy around his body in a protective sheath.

The energy struck the zanpaktou and exploded, and Kagi greedily drank in all the released energy, growing stronger as she did so. As the smoke cleared, Anrak could see the blood-groove had filled now and he grinned.

This fight was over.

He leapt towards the arrancar, blade held high with the promise of death. The Arrancar held out his blade and opened his mouth to speak, almost as if he were trying to release his sword, but it was of no use; before he could utter a sound, _Kage Shitsukoi _connected, shattering the Arrancar's sword into a thousand pieces under the tremendous impact and continuing her way down to the torso. The dark blade sheared through the flesh and bone effortlessly, leaving a trail of black fire in it's wake that consumed the body, incinerating it.

There was no time to gloat over his victory as a small army of hollows fell upon him, perhaps looking to avenge their fallen leader. There was a flurry of jagged teeth and sharp claws from all sides and it took all of Anrak's concentration to block and counter every attack, but he had no intention of dying today.

Blood sprayed into the air, none of it his by some miracle, as hollow after hollow fell to the black sword.

He barely had time to finish them as he felt a clawed hand land on his shoulder from behind, razor-sharp talons digging into his flesh. He thrust his blade over his shoulder, just in time to impale the adjuchas behind him through it's open mouth as it went in to take a bite out of his neck.

Jerking free as the hollow dissolved into the air, he took a brief moment to assess his injuries, rolling his shoulder and flexing the muscles to make sure the damage wasn't too severe. There was some pain, but it was minor, nothing worth stopping over.

_You're being sloppy_, Kagi chided him. He ignored her admonishment; despite their strength, he knew experience played a crucial role in any battle and this was his first major battle, dwarfing even his fights in Karakura earlier in the war.

Anrak took a moment to survey the battlefield, noting that the air felt different now, not as heavy or as desperate as before. As his blue eyes scanned across the raging warzone, he could see that the other shinigami were fighting with renewed vigor and he could feel a definite shift in their attitudes from earlier.

Hope had returned.

No longer did he feel despair or defeat emanating from his fellows; now it was hope and pride and an unwavering will to crush the hollows and protect the Seireitei. The tide was turning as more and more hollows began to fall, their death cries filling the air as the shinigami forces pushed forward, forcing the advancing beasts from Hueco Mundo back away from the gate.

Anrak allowed himself a tight grin, content with the knowledge that the Seireitei would not fall this day. The wind blew around him and the tattered haori fluttered in the breeze and for a moment, Anrak allowed himself to forget that it was just an old white bed sheet he'd taken from a rubble pile, instead feeling as it it were the real thing. He felt a surge of pride as he watched the army of shinigami force the hollows back, pride in his fellows and in himself, pride that a century of training had paid off, even if it wasn't the grand reveal of his bankai that he'd envisioned.

But now wasn't the time to think about such trivial things as pride; now there was a war that still needed to be won.

"Keep fighting!" he bellowed over the sounds of battle to his comrades, "I want more men reinforcing the left side of the gate!"

Immediately, the air was filled with a chorus of "Yes, Captain!" from several hundred shinigami as they intensified their efforts, oblivious to the fact that the man commanding them was only a lowly tenth-seat.

Anrak charged towards the last remaining adjuchas, feeling renewed by positive energy now emanating from the other soul reapers. His wounds were forgotten now and the only thing that remained was a desire to crush the remaining hollows and drive them all away from the Soul Society, back into the black hell that was Hueco Mundo.

The adjuchas saw his approach and leapt into the air, attempting to somersault over him to avoid the blade, but Anrak had other ideas as he reached up with his left hand and grabbed the creature by his ankle, then slamming him back down onto the ground roughly, sending cracks through the earth below under the impact. Mercilessly, Anrak spun his blade into a reverse-grip and stabbed downward, impaling the beast through it's abdomen.

With the death of the adjuchas, only a pair of Menos and a few lesser hollows remained on the field. He looked at the towering Menos that stood shoulder to shoulder, each one the size of a small skyscraper from the human world.

_Time for more kidō practice!_ cheered Kagi.

He held out his right hand, open palm facing towards the twin behemoths.

"Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws. Hadō #33, Sōkatsui!" he shouted, allowing his full reiatsu to flow into the spell.

Lightening crackled around his fingertips as the spell launched forward towards it's targets, the bolt-like tendrils spreading ever wider as they went until they formed a massive wave of blue fire that surged across the ground, rising up high enough to be eye-level to the giant Menos.

He shut his eyes against the blinding light as the spell made contact and obliterated the hollows, leaving nothing but their shrieks echoing across the devastated landscape.

As the death cries of the two Menos faded, total silence finally filled the air.

No more screams, no more sounds of battle, nothing but an eerie quiet.

It was finally over; the hollows had all been destroyed or driven off.

He stood, drinking in the quiet sound of nothingness and the relative peace it meant for a long minute before a victory cheer originated from somewhere across the scarred battlefield, a cheer which quickly spread to all the other shinigami present.

He couldn't begrudge them their celebration; it had certainly been well-earned after such a hard-fought battle. For a brief moment he joined in, adding his voice to the collective and knowing that the residents out in the Rukon could hear the sound of triumph from miles away.

Anrak's victory cries lasted only a brief moment though as he remembered that he couldn't afford to stand around much longer, lest someone recognize that he wasn't really a captain; he knew that his friends were right, that impersonating a captain carried severe penalties and he wasn't anxious to find out just how severe they were.

With a quick flash-step, he vanished out of view of the other shinigami to find cover. He suppressed his reiatsu again and peeked around the corner of the barely-standing house he was hiding behind to look back at his fellows, all of whom seemed to be confused as to where their mysterious 'captain' had went.

Pulling back around the corner and out of sight, Anrak smiled as he pulled off his ripped and humble homemade haori, holding it at arm's length as he examined it. It was more ragged now that it had been to begin with, stained with both the crimson blood of his compatriots and the black blood of the many hollows he'd slain.

A strong gust of wind blew and Anrak smiled softly as he released his grip on the bed sheet, letting the wind carry it southward, into the sky.

"Thank you…" he murmured, acknowledging the contribution of the simple bed sheet to the fierce battle.

With that, he turned and walked back around the house to rejoin the other shinigami in their celebrations. He caught up with Takk and Satsu who greeted him warmly and together the three of them joined in with the others in wondering just who the mysterious captain had been, and where he had disappeared to.

No one noticed the tattered old bed sheet as it sailed by overhead on the wind.


	10. Green Haired Monster

**Green-Haired Monster**

Victory.

Such a simple word, such a nice-sounding word…

_**Pity it's wrong.**_

It was three days after the fact that the Soul Society had officially declared the Battle for the Seireitei and the Battle over Fake Karakura to be victories, and Anrak couldn't disagree more. To him, the losses had been far too severe to call either battle a true victory.

Of the three-thousand shinigami left behind to defend the Seireitei, nearly a third of them had lost their lives. All four areas of Rukon 1 were now in shambles, a wasteland of demolished buildings and fires that were _still_ burning.

Less lives were lost at the Fake Karakura front, but the impact of the casualties there couldn't be denied. Marechiyo Ōmaeda, lieutenant of Squad 2, deceased. Izuru Kira, lieutenant of Squad 3, deceased. Momo Hinamori, lieutenant of Squad 5, deceased. Tetsuzaemon Iba, lieutenant of Squad 7, deceased.

Captains Soifon and Komamura both lost an arm, and while the human Inoue had managed to restore them, both were expected to remain on light duty for the rest of the week to err on the side of caution. Old man Yama had been seriously wounded, and while Squad 4 had already treated and released him, he was not to engage in any physical activity for the next two weeks. Captain Ukitake's injuries were the most grievous, and he was _still_ in a coma in the infirmary, and it was doubted he'd ever wake.

All officers at the battle had been hurt, though thankfully, most had minor wounds by comparison. The real Karakura town had been restored to the world of the living, and Kurosaki would be returning home to recuperate from his own injuries soon.

Even the hulking, seemingly-invincible captain before him now was swathed in bandages from head to toe. Realistically, the man should be in the infirmary still, but Anrak had a feeling that Captain Unohana had given up on arguing with Captain Zaraki long ago.

He waited patiently for the imposing captain to finish reading the report on the Seireitei battle, letting his mind wander as he did so.

The officers who'd gone to Hueco Mundo had returned with someone else, someone he hadn't met yet, and it puzzled him. Who could possibly have been in Hueco Mundo worth saving other than Inoue?

The first time he'd sensed the new presence, shortly after everyone's return, it had been fairly strong, but it felt like an open wound, leaking reiatsu instead of blood. He knew that they'd taken whoever it was to a secure wing of the Squad 4 infirmary and had brought Inoue in, and that afterwards, the presence had felt much stronger, more composed…undamaged.

Whoever it was had captain-level reiatsu, easy, and he'd seen Renji, Rukia, and Kurosaki ushering a cloaked figure towards the first division HQ, presumably for a meeting with old man Yama. Anrak had at first thought Ichimaru or Tousen had underwent a change of heart and had betrayed Aizen, but he quickly found out that all three of the traitorous captains had died over the fake Karakura.

_Worry about that later,_ growled Kagi.

Captain Zaraki finally looked up from the report on his desk and eyed Anrak for a long minute before speaking.

"So, you didn't actually _see_ this so-called 'captain' during the battle?"

"No, sir."

"And you don't know anything about him at all?"

"No, sir."

Captain Zaraki sighed, apparently annoyed by the answers. Anrak wasn't surprised, of course; he'd known Zaraki would be eager to test himself against the mysterious "captain" if he could find him.

Anrak wasn't particularly thrilled about the idea of a brawl with his captain, so he decided to feign ignorance.

Zaraki reached his right hand over and scratched at the itchy bandages on his left shoulder as he glanced down at the report again.

"Says here you killed a Menos during the battle…that right?" he asked, looking back up and making eye contact with Anrak.

_**Several, actually…**_

"Yes, sir."

"Heh, I'd expect nothing less from my officers." said Zaraki, grinning with what Anrak could only assume was a measure of pride. "You're what now, Ushii, tenth seat?"

"Yes, captain."

"Congratulations; you just got bumped to seventh."

It felt like déjà vu, the very casual way the captain just handed out a promotion.

"Sir…wouldn't it make more sense to move the eighth and ninth up first?" asked Anrak, mentally kicking himself as soon as the words were out of his mouth; questioning Zaraki's decisions wasn't exactly the smartest thing a person could do.

Zaraki scowled at the question.

"Our ninth got himself killed at the South Gate, and our eighth is in the infirmary recovering from a fight with a regular hollow."

"Shouldn't he get the seventh seat?" Anrak blurted again.

"A _regular_ hollow, Ushii! A weak, run-of-the-mill, garden-variety hollow! He's lucky _I_ don't kill him myself for embarrassin' the division!" roared the menacing captain as he slammed a fist down on the desk in anger, his reiatsu spiking to dangerous levels.

_Good job; you pissed off the psychopath._

Still, Anrak knew his captain wouldn't actually kill one of his own men. Oh sure, he liked to threaten it frequently, and most believed him, but not Anrak.

"Ah…I understand, sir. Would you like me to go kill him for you?" Anrak quipped dryly. Zaraki sat up straight, his one-visible eye open wide in surprise at the callous nature of the joke.

"Heh, now _that's_ more like it, Ushii." chuckled Kenpachi darkly. "No, we'll let him live this time."

Inwardly, Anrak allowed himself a small smirk at having managed to surprise the captain as Zaraki went back to reading the report again.

"I'll admit it; I didn't think a runt like you would last three seconds against a Menos, but the report from the West Gate says you took one all by yourself. I'm actually impressed, Ushii."

_**I actually killed **_**four**_** Menos at the West Gate…**_

He didn't dare say it, though; while he was surprised and honored at Captain Zaraki's admission, he was well aware that admitting to anything more would probably end in the captain challenging him to a fight to 'test' his strength.

Instead, he settled on a polite "Thank you, sir."

There was a brief pause…

"Are you _sure_ you didn't see anything about this 'captain' at the North Gate? What his shikai looked like, what _he_ looked like, anything?"

"Very sure, sir."

"Do you think he's strong enough to face me?" asked the captain evenly.

And there it was, the one burning question he'd known Zaraki would get to sooner or later, the one question he always asked where strong opponents were concerned.

"Er…I don't think so, sir." said Anrak. He was confident in his abilities and his strength, sure, but he wasn't foolish enough to think himself a match for Kenpachi Zaraki.

There was another pause as Zaraki eyed him, weighing the answer.

"Well, we'll find him sooner or later, and _then_ we'll find out just how strong he _really_ is." growled Kenpachi, dismissing Anrak with a wave of his hand as he went back to reading through the battle reports.

He was barely out of the office when he was assaulted by Lieutenant Yachiru, who perched herself on his shoulder and ruffled his hair.

"Yay! You're the new number seven, Annie!" she cheered.

Anrak forced a grin and thanked her for her enthusiasm, inwardly annoyed by the new nickname she'd given him. An-chan was annoying enough, but Annie? Seriously?

Not that there was any point in trying to reason with the lieutenant; with Zaraki as her surrogate father, the girl had begun to pick up some of his less-positive traits, such as his bull-headed nature and quick temper.

The small pink-haired monstrosity jumped down from his shoulders and took off down the barrack halls, screaming at the top of her little lungs to announce the news to the rest of the squad. Anrak watched her go for a moment before shaking his head and exiting the barracks.

It was shortly after noon as he departed the division 11 grounds and ran into Enjeru as the other man was returning from helping bury the deceased, his uniform caked in sweat and dirt. They fell into step alongside one another as they walked through the Seireitei, neither man with a particular destination in mind at the moment.

It was Anrak who broke the silence and spoke first.

"I'm sorry to hear about Lieutenant Iba." he said quietly. Enjeru just nodded in quiet appreciation.

Tetsuzaemon Iba had been the lieutenant of Squad 7, and he'd taken Enjeru under his wing when he transferred into the squad. Now Enjeru's friend and mentor was gone, and somehow old man Yama had the audacity to call this entire debacle a victory…

"We lost several officers during the battle… I'll probably be moved up to fifth seat soon, maybe fourth, when the Captain starts trying to fill the vacant spots." replied the other man finally.

"Captain Zaraki's already started shuffling people into the empty positions. He just named me seventh seat."

"Doesn't waste any time, does he? Congratulations."

"Can't afford to; just because Aizen's dead doesn't mean the war is finished yet." stated Anrak. Enjeru was silent for a minute, perhaps considering his words.

"Maybe, but it just seems a little heartless to start replacing officers when most of the deceased aren't even buried yet."

Anrak couldn't argue with his friend there, so he opted to remain silent.

"It's official now… I read through the list of the deceased earlier today, and everyone from our graduating class is gone now, except for us." said Enjeru solemnly.

Anrak sighed, having figured as much. Still, it was strange to know that one hundred and ninety-eight people from their class of two hundred were dead now; he hadn't known most of them at all, and that made him feel somewhat guilty now.

Silence filled the air between them two men again as they walked. Normally, there would be a light-hearted joke here and there, but not now, not with all that had happened lately. Anrak wondered how long it would be before things began to return to normal…two weeks? Three? Six months? Longer?

Then again, maybe things would never truly be normal again.

"You know anything about who Kurosaki and Renji brought back from Hueco Mundo?" he asked finally, desperate to end the maddening silence.

Enjeru shook his head.

"Not a bloody thing. Pretty strong spiritual pressure, whoever it is. Maybe it's one of those 'Vizards' we heard about, the guys with hollow-like masks who helped over Karakura."

"Maybe, but I heard they all died during the battle."

"Maybe it's an Arrancar, then." suggested Enjeru jokingly. The two of them gave a short laugh; that was probably the most unlikely scenario ever, really. An Arrancar, in the Seireitei? No, it was almost certainly one of the Vizards or a long-lost shinigami, as there were a handful who'd disappeared without a trace over the centuries.

"What about you? You hear anything new about the captain that showed up at the North Gate?" asked Enjeru. Anrak glanced at his friend quickly, wondering if he suspected the truth, but there was no indication of it on the other man's face; he appeared to be genuinely curious.

"Nothing. Captain Zaraki's dying to find out who it is, of course, so he can fight them."

"Your captain really is a barbarian, you know."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, and he probably has more fleas than _your_ captain." replied Anrak. Enjeru chuckled softly, nodding.

"I wouldn't doubt it. He's-" he started, but was cut off as another shinigami came sprinting past them in fear, screaming.

"There's an Arrancar in the Seireitei! Run!" he shouted, an expression of terror etched into his face.

Anrak and Enjeru glanced at each other, both struck by the rather ironic timing of the fear-filled decree, and simultaneously shunpoed off in the direction the fleeing Soul Reaper had come.

They arrived in the commons area and found some hundred-plus shinigami fearfully keeping their distance from a creature in the center of the commons, a beast with a partial mask on it's head.

Enjeru noticed the Arrancar in question was flanked by Ichigo and Renji, neither of whom had a weapon drawn or looked concerned, but Anrak suddenly developed tunnel vision, and could see nothing except his enemy; a green-haired monster barely shorter than himself, wearing the standard whites of an Arrancar with a sword on it's hip.

It was the enemy, and he had to stop it before it could kill any more Soul Reapers.

Enjeru knew what was coming, knew his friend well enough to understand what he was going to do. He reached out to put a restraining hand on Anrak's shoulder, but he was far too slow; Anrak had already drawn his zanpaktou free and was charging in fearlessly, giving a war cry that announced his intentions to the world.

The monster turned to face the noise, surprise on it's- no, _her_- face, as Anrak could now see it was female, her light greenish-brown eyes wide in surprise.

He was almost on her, and she had no time to draw her weapon; he'd strike her down without even breaking a sweat, before the demon had a chance to kill anyone.

The blade came down for her neck, fully intent on tearing her head from her shoulders…and it came to an abrupt halt as she simply reached up and caught the deadly blade with her bare hand. She wore a cold and emotionless expression on her face now, and it was Anrak's turn to be surprised. He'd heard that an Arrancar's skin, or _hierro_ as it was known, could potentially be strong enough to withstand sword strikes, but after defeating one in the Rukon during the Seireitei battle, he'd thought it to be just a myth.

Clearly, it wasn't.

That was as far as his train of thought managed to get before the Arrancar slammed the palm of her free hand into his chest with incredible force, sending him flying backward for several meters and crashing through a wall into a small supply hut.

Anrak groaned as he sat up in the pile of rubble, and grimaced as he realized that several of his ribs were broken.

And it had only taken one hit to do it.

Thankfully, he'd managed to keep the grip on his sword, wrenching it free of her grasp as he went flying back. He hissed in pain through clenched teeth as he got to his feet and climbed back out of the hole in the wall.

She was powerful, _real_ powerful. He knew there was only one way to take her down, one way to ensure the safety of the Seireitei. He held his zanpaktou out, pointing the blade at his target as he prepared to end the fight.

"B-"

-and that was as far as he made it before he was quickly wrestled to the ground by Renji and Kurosaki, of all people.

"What the hell are you _doing_, Anrak?" yelled Ichigo angrily.

Anrak struggled as Kurosaki held him down by his left arm and Renji by his right.

"_Me_? What the hell are _you_ doing? I'm trying to stop that Arrancar!"

"Stop her from what? She hasn't done anything!"

"She's an Arrancar! She's the enemy!" he roared, nearly breaking free as adrenaline surged through his system.

"Anrak, Nel is _not_ the enemy; she's a friend!" said Renji from his right, forcing him back down to the ground. Anrak whipped his head around to face the redhead.

"What are you saying? She's an Arrancar!"

"Yeah, and she helped us in Hueco Mundo! Damn it, Anrak, we'd have _died_ without her help!" snapped Renji.

Anrak slowed down his struggling, confused.

"Nel helped us through the Menos Forest and into Los Noches itself. She saved my life when I fought against the fifth Espada." added Ichigo.

He stopped struggling completely now, comprehension dawning.

"She betrayed Aizen and the other Arrancar to help us. Head-Captain Yamamoto has granted her asylum in the Seireitei for her actions." said Renji, finally releasing his grip on Anrak, with Ichigo following his lead and doing the same.

Anrak looked at the Arrancar again, the unnerving emotionless look on her face, the long teal-colored hair, the crimson line running across her face underneath her lightly-colored eyes…and then he noticed that she hadn't moved an inch the entire time he'd been held down helplessly. She still had not drawn her weapon, and made no attempt to continue the fight.

He almost thought he saw a hint of sadness behind those eyes, sorrow that she'd had to lash out and hurt someone.

He was vaguely aware of Renji and Ichigo helping him to his feet as he continued to stare at her, his eyes locked onto hers.

_**She really **_**didn't**_** want to hurt me…**_

Realizing that, and knowing that he'd attacked her with the intent to kill…it hurt, and he'd never felt more embarrassed in his long life. He finally looked away from her gaze and refused to meet anyone else's eyes either, not wanting anyone to see just how foolish he felt at that moment.

"I'm sorry." he muttered, returning his zanpaktou to it's sheath as he turned and walked away.

He'd barely made it around the corner when Enjeru was at his side again, lightly poking his ribs to gauge his injuries. Anrak growled and swatted at him, intent on going back to his quarters to lie down, but his friend wouldn't have it and kept insisting he go to the infirmary. After a few minutes of bickering back and forth, Anrak agreed to go purely to shut Enjeru up…or so he said. Truthfully, his chest was killing him, but he was determined to hold onto at least _some_ pride today and not admit to any pain.

Both men noticed that Captain Unohana didn't seem particularly surprised to see Anrak, but then again, she was used to seeing people from Squad 11 on a daily basis. As she began administering a low-level healing kidō to fix his four broken ribs, she asked what had happened. Anrak looked away and refused to answer, but Enjeru was more than happy to speak up.

"The Arrancar-girl Renji and Ichigo brought back." he said, seemingly unaware of the discomfort Anrak felt at the mention of it.

"Nel? But she's such a quiet, gentle person…"

"Yeah, and _he's_ Squad 11." said Enjeru teasingly, using his thumb to indicate the other man beside him. Anrak growled again, refusing to be baited into an argument, even if it was meant in good fun.

Captain Unohana just sighed, understanding what was left unspoken; Anrak had recklessly attacked her and had paid the price.

Nothing else was said as Unohana finished up the healing spell, save for her warning Anrak that his chest would probably be tender for the next twenty-four hours, even though the ribs themselves were fine now.

The sun had just set when the duo exited the infirmary and parted ways, leaving Anrak to trek back to his quarters in Division 11 in relative silence, reflecting on the day.

_You really are an idiot_, said Kagi softly, careful not to make him feel too much worse.

He grunted out an agreement; he knew he'd behaved stupidly today, and he wanted nothing more than to go to bed and forget it all. Upon returning to his quarters, he collapsed back upon his soft mattress and lay there in the dark until sleep claimed him.

The following day found him without an assignment other than delegating duties down to lower officers and unranked shinigami. He went down Zaraki's list dutifully, handing out jobs for the day to each squad member listed on it, and was surprised to find there was nothing next to his own name when he was finished.

He went back to Zaraki to point out the oversight, but the captain had simply shrugged and called it his "lucky day", dismissing Anrak without ever giving him an assignment.

Still, he felt he had to do something, so he settled for going to the dojo and assisting Ikkaku in educating the less-experienced shinigami in the art of swordsmanship.

Teaching kept him busy…for the first half of the day, anyway. After lunch, there had been no one left around to work with. Anrak glanced skyward as the wind blew around him… He had nothing else he _had_ to do today, so it was as good a time as any to head out to the sakura trees and read. Besides, with the dropping temperature, it might be too cold to sit outside soon. Retrieving his book from his quarters, he headed off to the small wooded area over in Division 2.

Relaxing under his favorite sakura tree would help him finally forget yesterday's incident, he reasoned. Even though most of the cherry blossoms would be gone by now, it was still peaceful and scenic enough out there to make most anyone forget their troubles.

At least, that's what he thought until he arrived and found _her_ sitting underneath his tree, leaning up against the southwest face of the trunk with a book in her slender hands.

_**What...the...hell?**_

He wasn't sure how long he stood there staring at her, utterly dumbfounded at her presence. This was _his_ spot, damn it, not hers. He'd come out here to put the memories of yesterday behind him, not to be confronted by them again.

"Can I help you with something?" she asked flatly, looking up at him with those cold, emotionless eyes.

_Tell her she can help by getting the hell out of here!_ snarled Kagi.

No.

He was better than that, damn it.

_I'm _not_; let's run the bitch off!_

Anrak ignored his zanpaktou. After yesterday's debacle, and with what Renji and Ichigo had said about her saving their lives, he owed the woman sitting before him an apology.

_She's a filthy Arrancar! We don't owe her anything!_

Again, he ignored her, speaking instead to the teal-haired woman under the tree.

"Hey, about yesterday… I, uh, would like to apologize for my behavior… I acted rashly, without thinking, and I'm sorry for attacking you." he said sincerely, much to Kagi's disgust.

The Arrancar stared at him for a moment, letting the apology hang in the air.

Finally, her face softened by a fraction.

"Apology accepted; you mistook me for an enemy, and acted to ensure the safety of the Seireitei. There is no shame in that." she said softly.

Anrak felt himself relax with her words, having been unaware of just how tense he'd been. Most of his remaining shame left him, and for that he was grateful.

"You didn't come all the way out here just to apologize, though…what did you really want?" she asked, glancing back at her book long enough to flip to the next page. Anrak held up his own book, and she responded with a look of surprise much the same as the one she'd wore yesterday.

"I came wandering out here to find a quiet place to be alone and read…" she murmured. "I never expected anyone else to do the same, much less to find me here."

"Well…I've been coming out here for over a century now. I helped plant these trees." he admitted.

The surprised look on her face was now replaced with understanding.

"This is your spot, isn't it?" she asked, standing to relinquish it to him. He held up a hand and halted her.

"I don't _own_ it; you were here first, so you keep it. I've got six other trees to choose from." he said, forcing a smile. Internally, Kagi was raging at him for not taking a more aggressive stance in the matter.

He ignored the angry spirit and turned to look about the area, debating on which tree to claim. They were all mostly-bare now, though none of them held the same kind of allure as the seventh tree in the center, the one the Arrancar was using.

"Actually, I think this tree is big enough to share, if you'd like." she offered quietly.

Anrak turned to look back at her. Sharing the tree with her was just about the _last_ thing he wanted to do, but her emotionless mask was gone entirely now, replaced by a small yet friendly smile, and a different look hidden deep in her eyes…loneliness, perhaps?

**_She probably _is_ lonely, so far away from Hueco Mundo with only a couple of friends in the entire Seireitei..._**

He really _didn't_ want to sit with her, but his conscience balked at the idea of refusing her; after all, he could vividly recall himself feeling alone when he first came to the Seireitei some hundred and ten years ago, before he'd met Yoruichi.

_Who _cares_ if she's lonely? She's not welcome here!_

He ignored Kagi and her venom-laced words.

"Hai, it is… Thank you." he said, giving a polite smile as he sat down, leaning back against the east face of the trunk.

Kagi exploded with a rather impressive variety of swear words and insults directed towards him for being "too soft."

Anrak opened his book and began reading, trying not to dwell on the fact that he sat within arm's reach of a potentially-dangerous Arrancar, and ignoring Kagi's angry ranting.

"I'll bet this place is beautiful when it's all in bloom…" sighed the Arrancar.

"Very. Perhaps you'll get a chance to see it in the spring."

"I'd like that…even with most of the blossoms gone, it's still more beautiful than Hueco Mundo." she breathed, and despite her words, Anrak thought he sensed just a touch of homesickness in her voice.

_Go home if you miss it, wench!_ hissed Kagi.

_**Behave,**_ he thought irritably.

The right thing to do, he thought, was to introduce himself and attempt to make the Arrancar feel more welcome. Kagi couldn't disagree more, but Anrak liked to think he had better manners than his angry zanpaktou.

"Look, we got off on the wrong foot yesterday, Miss… What do you say we try this again?" he asked, glancing over at the Arrancar and offering her a smile.

She cocked her head and gave him a confused look.

"There's something wrong with one of my feet?" she asked. Anrak laughed, assuming she was trying to be funny…and then he noticed that no, she had taken the expression literally.

"No, no…it's just an expression that means we screwed up…we made a bad first impression on each other."

"…oh."

"I'm Anrak Ushii, Squad 11, seventh seat." he introduced himself.

"My name is Neliel Tu Odelschvank." she said, smiling pleasantly.

"It's good to meet you, Miss Odel…Odelshw…Miss Tu." he said finally, and she gave a light laugh at his difficulties with her name.

"Call me Nel…Ichigo and Renji do."

"Why shorten such a nice name as Neliel?" he blurted without thinking.

Neliel's eyes widened slightly at the sudden compliment. Her smile brightened more now, with a slight tinge of red to her cheeks that wasn't quite as dark as the crimson line stretching across her face.

Anrak hadn't meant to say it, he really hadn't. True, he thought it was a nice name, but actually saying it struck him as being excessively forward and could be misconstrued as being flirtacious, but he'd already uttered the words before he could stop himself.

Worse still, he found himself absolutely stunned when she smiled at the compliment, and for a moment, the world froze. Her eyes had a certain brightness to them now, her smile was mesmerizing, and her long teal-green tresses framed her face in a picture-perfect moment. Even with the large scar running down between her eyes, she was…

_Don't you dare…not about an Arrancar._

…she was…

_I'm serious, don't even _think_ it._

…cute.

_WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?_

He barely resisted the urge to flinch as Kagi shrieked at him, and broke his eyes away from Neliel's quickly, turning back to his book. He resumed reading, trying to forget what had just happened and how awkward he felt now that the moment had passed.

Meanwhile, Kagi was _still_ berating him.

He tuned her out and continued to try and read…at least until Neliel spoke again. He answered her, as was the courteous thing to do, and inadvertently, it led to the two of them conversing about everything from the sakura trees, to the war, to life, and to what the world of the living was like.

It wasn't until much later after he'd returned to his quarters for the night that he realized he'd never even finished the first page.


	11. Snow Day

**Snow Day**

Generally, the weather in the Soul Society was much nicer than the world of the living; less rain, more sunshine, warmer temperatures… Even in the winter, it was considerably warmer than the human world, and snow was a rarity that occurred only once every couple of years.

But there were always exceptions, and this year was shaping up to be a big one; since his time under the sakura tree a scant two days ago, the temperature had plummeted sharply and last night it had begun to snow lightly.

Anrak poked around at the food on his tray, not particularly hungry, but not willing to discard his tray and return to duty, either; his assignment for the day was a security patrol through the wasteland that _used_ to be South Rukon 1 once lunch was finished, and the thought of trudging around in the cold until nightfall wasn't appealing.

He was sitting at one of the smaller tables in the back of the Grand Mess, the Seireitei's massive commissary that could serve up to eight hundred people at a time. Each of the thirteen divisions had their own smaller mess halls that seated two hundred and fifty people, but those were typically only used for division-specific functions whereas the Grand Mess allowed people to sit and enjoy their meals in the company of their friends from other divisions.

Not that Anrak would call either of the two loudmouths sharing the table with him friends; he wasn't sure what division they were with, and given their continual boasting about their 'heroic' actions at the East Gate during the Battle for the Seireitei, he didn't _want_ to know them. Indeed, to listen to them talk, one would think they'd single-handedly defended the East Gate.

_**Should we remind them that the East Gate saw the least amount of action by far?**_

Silence was his answer.

He sighed, which was ignored by his two companions who were eagerly telling him about their heroic victory over a hollow that looked like a turkey.

Kagi hadn't spoken much to him since that day in the woods, when he'd allowed the word "cute" to flutter through his brain for a half second while staring at the Arrancar. He knew the moody zanpaktou spirit was beyond pissed at him, and he knew she'd just as soon kill Neliel as look at her.

Her excuse for the hatred was that Neliel was a hollow and should be treated as such, and no amount of reasoning with the spirit seemed to convince her that Neliel was different.

He'd even tried apologizing for upsetting her…and still Kagi ignored him.

_**Crazy, moody woman…**_

Meanwhile, the other two Soul Reapers were _still _boasting, oblivious to the fact he was no longer paying any attention to them.

Anrak missed Kagi's voice now, missed how she'd normally say something to the effect of "these two buffoons don't _deserve_ to share a table with us; let's run them off!"

He'd never thought this day would come, really, when he'd miss her ego and the ensuing argument over how she shouldn't say such things.

Of course, he had a feeling she was well aware of his thoughts on the matter, and was probably feeling pretty smug right about now, and would doubtlessly rub it in later whenever she _did _resume speaking to him.

"God, they let that _thing_ in here to eat with us?" said one of the other shinigami, his voice dripping with disgust. Anrak looked up from his tray at that to see Neliel walking through the Grand Mess with a tray of her own, looking for a seat.

Every table she passed, the Soul Reapers all did the same; in a very juvenile fashion, they blocked off any empty seats near themselves and made it abundantly clear that she wasn't welcome. To her credit, she didn't show any emotion in the matter; she wore that same stoic look she'd had when she put him through a wall a few days before.

"I can't believe they're letting it stay here instead of killing it." remarked the other Soul Reaper.

Normally, Anrak thought he'd probably share their sentiment, but after speaking with her the other day…really, she wasn't a bad person.

_She's _not_ a person; she's a hollow!_

Oh, _now_ Kagi speaks…

_**Don't say that; you were there, too. You heard the things Renji and Ichigo said, and you heard what she told me herself.**_

More silence.

Damn it.

Anrak had been able to sympathize with the Arrancar's loneliness the other day easy enough, as it reminded him of his own early days in the Seireitei, but this was different. Sure, not many people had spoken to him back then, but no one blocked him from joining their table, either. He couldn't imagine how this had to be making her feel.

"Looks like it's giving up and leaving." said the first Soul Reaper.

This was ridiculous and cruel, and to his surprise, he found that it was starting to piss him off.

Well, he could change that.

"Neliel! Hey, Nel! Over here!" he shouted across the room, whistling sharply to cut through the noise.

She turned to look at the back of the room where he was sitting, surprise etched on her face while the Grand Mess went deathly silent as none of the other shinigami could believe that someone was willingly offering the Arrancar a seat.

"What the hell are you doing?" hissed his companions. "We don't want to sit with that _thing_!"

Anrak scowled at their tone and choice of words.

"Then I suggest you move." he said coldly, flaring his reiatsu just enough to let them know it would be a really _bad_ idea to challenge him over the matter. They shrank back under his glare, gathered up their trays, and left.

Neliel made her way over to the table, eyes fixed on the two departing Soul Reapers.

"I didn't mean to drive your friends off…" she said apologetically.

"Feh, those two fools are no friends of mine. Have a seat." he said, gesturing to the empty spot across from him. Neliel smiled appreciatively and slid into the seat, while Kagi was literally growling at him.

Still, the angry spirit wouldn't actually speak.

Oh well.

"Truth be told, I'm glad they're gone; I can't stand braggarts." said Anrak, shoveling a helping of rice into his mouth with his _hashi_.

"And yet you're friends with Renji?" she asked teasingly.

"He's not _that_ bad…most of the time."

"And the rest of the time?"

"A good slap to the back of the head works wonders." he said, setting his hashi down and taking a drink.

"Slap who?" asked the redhead in question, sitting down to eat beside them.

"Oh, no one important." said Anrak with a grin and Neliel bit back a smile. Renji looked at the two and shook his head as he connected the dots.

"So first you try and kill her and now you two are together in poking fun at me?"

"It's part of our arrangement; I try very hard not to murder her and she helps me pick on you." quipped Anrak, poking at the horribly overcooked meat on his tray that vaguely resembled fish.

"Yeah, right; I don't think-" started Renji before a small piece of bread came flying across the table and bounced off his forehead. Both men turned towards the origin of said food, but there was only Neliel, doing a positively world-class job of looking completely innocent as she ate another bite of rice. Renji cast an accusatory glance at Anrak.

"You've corrupted her already."

"Better me than you, mister 'hey, let's get drunk and go fishing.'"

Renji scowled and opened his mouth to argue, but Anrak cut him off by addressing Nel.

"Don't suppose he told you about the _last_ time he got drunk, did he?" he asked. She blinked once and shook her head.

"Well, since none of us could go with him for once, he got smashed by himself and decided to scale the walls of the Kuchiki mansion and prune Captain Kuchiki's sakura trees with _Zabimaru_…at midnight."

Neliel looked over at Renji, who was covering his face with his hands as Anrak continued.

"After destroying all of Captain Kuchiki's trees, _then _he thought it would be a good idea to strip down and go swimming in the captain's prized koi pond."

"Oh, my…"

"Ah, but it gets even _better_; after swimming, he decided to warm himself up by starting a little campfire from the remains of one of the sakura trees, over which he roasted one of the koi."

Neliel's eyes were wide in amazement now, and Renji's face was nearly as red as his hair.

"Yep, Captain Kuchiki woke up the next morning to find a naked Renji curled up on his back patio, asleep, still holding a half-eaten koi. How long were you in the infirmary for that one, Renji?"

"A week and a half…and I spent the next two months doing eighteen hour shifts, seven days a week." he muttered.

"So yeah, better you pick up habits from me than him." said Anrak in between bites of food.

"Hey pal, don't forget _you_ drink almost as much as I do and then do stupid things." retorted Renji.

"True…but the stupid things are always _your_ ideas. Me, I'm content to stay at the bar till I pass out. You're a bad influence."

Renji rolled his eyes and kept eating rather than try to deny the accusation.

"Aside from you trying to corrupt dear Nel here, I hear about you've been spending a lot of time over in Squad 8 lately…" began Renji in-between bites of his fish. "Ikkaku said he saw you talking with Captain Kyōraku yesterday; you trying to transfer away from Zaraki or something?"

"Captain Kyōraku…Shunsui, I mean, has been giving me some pointers on my zanpaktou lately." said Anrak, not ready to admit that the captain had actually been training him.

"She's been mouthing off again, huh?" Renji guessed. "You've got to have the most foul-tempered and bad-mannered zanpaktou in the entire Seireitei."

"She does have a bit of an attitude problem…" agreed Anrak.

"Your sword is a girl?" asked Neliel, blinking in confusion. "Ichigo told me that a Soul Reaper's zanpaktou has it's own soul and personality, but I thought that guys had guy swords and girls had girl swords."

"Not always." explained Renji. "For example, I only have one zanpaktou, but it has two spirits; Chimpette is female and Hebi is male. Together, they make up _Zabimaru_."

"I only have one spirit; _Kage Shitsukoi_, or 'Kagi' for short." said Anrak. "Also, I think she takes offense at being called a 'girl.'"

_I'm _all_ woman!_ seethed Kagi.

"Yep, she definitely took offense." nodded Anrak as he continued to poke at the uneaten food still on his tray.

"Sorry." apologized Neliel, giving a sheepish grin.

"You hear anything new about the 'captain' spotted at the North Gate?" asked Renji, drawing attention away from Nel for a moment.

"Not a thing." lied Anrak, setting his _hashi_ down.

"Captain Kuchiki's had me crawling through old service records for the past couple of days, trying to decipher who this so-called 'captain' might be."

"And you still don't know anything either, do you?"

"Two days spent in the central archives and I don't have anything to show for it." sighed Renji.

"Lot of files, I take it?"

"A few hundred years worth, yeah; we're looking for people who have went missing in action over the years or just plain AWOL and man, there's a _lot_ of them."

Anrak wondered how his friend would react if he knew the answer was sitting literally two feet away, images of a flustered and red-faced Renji screaming in disbelief. Still, Anrak didn't necessarily _like_ hiding the truth from his best friend, but he wasn't ready to reveal everything just yet; the moment wasn't right, his chance to shine in front of his own captain hadn't yet presented itself and until it did, he had to downplay his abilities.

"Captain Soifon has a theory that it's someone in the Seireitei now, someone who's suppressing their spiritual pressure. Captain Kuchiki thinks that's a load of crap." grunted the lieutenant as he continued eating.

"Probably is; the only people capable of suppressing captain-level reiatsu well enough to hide out in the open would be Yoruichi, Kisuke, and Soifon herself, right?" asked Anrak, playing along.

"Old man Yama can, when he wants to. Otherwise, yeah, they're the only ones we know of who are _that_ stealthy about it. Takes a lot of practice to hide that much spiritual pressure…practice, or training from someone else that's very, very skilled in the art."

"Like who?"

"Yoruichi is my first thought; someone connected to her." admitted Renji, staring straight at his friend. "That wouldn't happen to ring any bells for you, would it?"

"Why would it?" asked Anrak, feigning innocence and silently cursing himself; Renji was his best friend, had known him for decades now; it only made sense that the redhead would suspect something.

But suspicion was not proof and that lack of proof would help keep things secret for just a bit longer.

"Well, she is your adopted sister…" began Renji slowly, and Anrak could hear the tiniest hint of accusation in his voice.

"Do you need any help with the research?" asked Neliel quietly, drawing attention back to herself and inadvertently saving Anrak from the increasingly-uncomfortable conversation with Renji. Both men turned to look at the arrancar, confused as to why anyone would volunteer for such a boring job.

"If the Seireitei is going to grant me asylum here, I want to do something to contribute… I still feel awful about how you and Ichigo had to protect me so much in Hueco Mundo, Renji."

Anrak glanced at Renji and then back at Nel, thoroughly confused. After the other day, he wouldn't have thought she needed _anyone_ to protect her. Clearly, he was missing some facts here, and he made a mental note to ask about it later.

Renji shook his head in response to her question.

"I'd love the help, but the central archives are off-limit to anyone who isn't part of the Gotei 13." he said.

Neliel nodded in understanding and resumed eating.

"If it makes you feel better, Renji, I've got it worse today." said Anrak, trying to keep Renji from falling back to their conversation only moments ago. "I get to do a security sweep through South 1 after lunch, won't be back sometime after dark."

"In _this_ cold? Sheesh, at least the central archives have heat."

"Yeah… Actually, I should probably get going; I've been wasting time in here for over an hour now."

"Well, if you're leaving, you won't be needing that dinner roll…" said Renji, snatching said roll from Anrak's tray. The brown-haired shinigami scowled at his redheaded friend.

"Actually, I was going to take that with me… Tell you what, let's rock, paper, scissors for it."

"You're on… One, two, three, _shoot_!"

Well, luck certainly wasn't on his side today…

"Ha! Scissors cut paper!" crowed Renji triumphantly.

"Yes, but paper smacks pineapple." said Anrak quickly, slapping Renji on top of his head and stealing the prized roll back with lightening speed, popping the whole thing in his mouth before Renji could retaliate.

"Don't worry," Anrak said, his mouth still full of food, "you can have everything else."

With that, he shoveled what was left of his rice onto Renji's tray.

"Remind me to kick your ass when you get back from your patrol." growled Renji.

"Remind you to get your ass kicked, got it." quipped Anrak as he headed off to deposit his tray for cleaning before exiting the Grand Mess.

"Wait! Do you need any help on your patrol?" called Nel.

"Not really." he answered casually, regretting it instantly as he could almost sense her disappointment without even turning around. He could understand her desire to do something, to feel useful around the Seireitei, and he sympathized with it.

"…but I wouldn't refuse it if someone were to offer." he added.

He allowed himself a small smile as he heard her standing up and rushing to join him.

No, he decided, she really wasn't a bad person after all, even if she was a hollow.

* * *

_**- South Rukon 1, three hours later -**_

They stopped by his quarters long enough for him to grab his thick winter cloak and replace the standard-issue sandals he had been wearing with boots, and as he heard snow crunch underfoot with each step, he was glad he'd made the last-minute decision to change footwear. The snow wasn't deep by any means, only a couple of inches so far, but it was still falling, and the temperature was still below freezing.

Neliel didn't have a cloak, and while he'd offered to stop by the Division 11 quartermaster and requisition her one, she'd refused, saying that she was used to the cold nights from the desert of Hueco Mundo.

Anrak has a suspicion that she wasn't fully aware just how much colder winter could be outside the desert, but he didn't argue with her.

For three hours they walked around the ruins of South 1, checking burnt-out and ruined buildings for any hollows that might still be hiding out there, as well as people who may be wounded. To him, it was all a waste of time; there was no indication that there were any hollows left in Soul Society after the battle, and anyone still missing by this point was likely dead, and their bodies would never be found.

The latest intel gathered by Squad 2 suggested that Hueco Mundo was still in the middle of a power struggle as the remaining Arrancar all fought for dominance. Anrak thought time would be better spent fortifying the Seireitei's defenses for when the hollows stopped fighting each other and came back to finish the Seireitei; after all, intel had already confirmed that was the apparent goal of all the Arrancar involved in the battle for control, and the only question was who was going to take over as their ruler.

He glanced over at the woman walking beside him as they chatted back and forth, wondering how she felt about all of this.

He knew she despised having to fight, even though it was sometimes necessary; they'd already had a lengthy discussion on the subject before they'd even left the Seireitei. He knew she disagreed with how the other Arrancar chose to behave, but in the end, she was one of them; how did she feel knowing that many of her kind were going to die when the fighting resumed, killed by the very people she was staying with now?

He guessed that she could see the question on his face as she began to speak.

"I don't consider myself one of them, not anymore… When we were just ordinary hollows, we behaved the way we did out of instinct to survive. We didn't have a choice in the matter; fighting and killing and eating other souls was what it took to continue living. When we became Arrancars, all that changed; we were free to choose for ourselves instead of being driven by instinct. We could think freely again, without having the constant hunger for souls gnawing away at us…but most of the others choose to act the same." she said softly, a touch of sadness in her voice as she spoke of it all.

"Neliel-"

"I _choose_ to be exercise my freedom and be something other than a monster. I _choose_ to eat real food instead of souls now that I have the option, and I _choose_ to protect others from those who make the choice to do harm. They aren't my kind anymore, because I choose to be _different_." she announced firmly, her voice filled with more conviction than he'd ever heard from her before.

"I believe you, Neliel-"

_I don't!_

"-and I'm sorry if you think I doubted you."

_I'm not!_

_**Kagi… **_he thought, warning the angry spirit to behave.

Kagi gave a short, frustrated scream and went silent again. While earlier he'd missed her commentary, now he was glad for her silence, considering she was still being unreasonable.

"My feelings on fighting made me unpopular among the others…" Neliel murmured. "Only Pesche and Dondochakka understood me."

She'd mentioned those two names the other day under the sakura tree, two Arrancar who didn't survive the battle in Hueco Mundo that she'd regarded as her brothers.

"It led Nnoitra to hate me, and we ended up fighting one another several times, though he was never able to defeat me."

Anrak frowned at that comment as he pulled his well-worn brown cloak around himself more tightly, trying to shut out the biting cold. He thought Nnoitra Jiruga had been the name of one of the Espada, but surely he had to be mistaken; after all, how could the gentle woman speaking to him now ever have stood up against an Espada?

"He set a trap for me, and baited it by hurting Pesche and Dondochakka. I fell for it, lost my temper and let him goad me into attacking a false image of him… When I realized that was going on, I turned around to prevent him from striking me in the back, but it wasn't fast enough." she said, her eyes taking on a distant look as she spoke.

"I avoided a fatal strike, but he broke my mask and left me this…" Neliel said, absentmindedly reaching up to touch the large scar running down between her eyes.

"The wound in my head left me with amnesia for a long time, and the fracture in my mask allowed my reiatsu to leak uncontrollably… My body responded by shrinking to compensate for the loss, reverting to a child form, equivalent to a four year old according to Ichigo."

Wait, _what_? She'd been turned into a kid?

It did explain the change in her spiritual pressure from when he'd first sensed her arrival in Soul Society, though, even if it otherwise made no sense to him; he'd thought breaking an Arrancar's mask would do nothing to them.

"I was banished from the palace of Los Noches, along with Pesche and Dondochakka. They took care of me for years while I was trapped in my child form, protecting me from other hollows. We helped Ichigo and his friends find their way to the palace when they invaded Hueco Mundo…they fought so hard to protect me, thinking I was truly a child… It wasn't until I saw Ichigo near-death that I found the strength to fight again, temporarily regaining my true form and my memories."

She was smiling softly now, the memories apparently becoming more pleasant.

"When it was all over and they brought me to the Soul Society, I had reverted to my child state again… Orihime and Captain Unohana were kind enough to heal my broken mask, allowing me to permanently resume my true form. Unohana said she might be able to heal the scar at a later date, if I wanted…I may take her up on the offer."

Anrak was a little speechless at her story, mostly because he was still stuck on the concept of her being a child until a few days ago.

"You were a kid until just recently…" he said, looking at her and trying to imagine it.

"But this is the _real _me now."

He stared at her for a long minute before turning his attention back to the snow-covered ground ahead of him.

"Sorry, it's just a difficult concept to wrap my head around."

She looked at him quizzically, and Anrak gathered that she was taking him literally again.

"It's another expression, one that means something is hard to understand or imagine."

"…oh." was her response, her cheeks flushing with mild embarrassment. "We didn't use such expressions in Hueco Mundo."

He smirked and shook his head, amused that she still retained some child-like naiveté about her. He opened his mouth to tease her about it when he saw her shiver violently.

"You're freezing, aren't you?" he asked instead. She smiled and denied it, visibly suppressing another shiver as she did so.

He tried to offer her his cloak, but she refused, saying she didn't want him to freeze on her account.

They were four hours into the patrol now, standing within sight of the boundary into South Rukon 2, and Anrak could see a tailor's shop just beyond the dividing line.

Anrak _hated_ the idea of spending money on something that could be provided for free by a quartermaster, but it was already cold and getting colder, and they were four hours away from the Seireitei still. Besides, he'd bought his own cloak during another unusually cold winter some ten years earlier as he was passing through West 63.

Of course, anything from a 63rd district would be considerably less expensive than anything from a 2nd district…

The shop owner had apparently been getting ready to close for the day when they walked in, but like most business owners in the Rukon, she was more than willing to stay open a little longer to cater to a Soul Reaper.

Immediately the blonde lady, who appeared to be in her mid-forties (even though appearances were often deceiving in the Soul Society), rushed to Anrak and began inquiring as to what he wanted, and taking a look at his slightly-frayed and tattered cloak, if he was perhaps in the market for a new one.

"Actually, yes, yes I am; for my friend here." he said, gesturing towards Neliel. The shopkeeper paused, looking at the other woman. Neliel's clothing and mask certainly set her apart from Soul Reapers, but thankfully, no one in the Rukon knew what an Arrancar was. At any rate, seeing that Neliel wore a zanpaktou on her hip, the shopkeeper apparently decided she was another shinigami, albeit a strange one.

Anrak sighed and glanced out the shop window as the tailor and Neliel browsed through the selection of cloaks, chatting among themselves as to how cute a particular one was, or how it brought out her hair color…

Really, was all this crap even _necessary_? When he'd bought his cloak, he'd simply walked into the store, found one that fit, paid for it, and walked out, with no fuss about how "cute" it looked or how it matched his hair or eyes or anything.

"Ah, I think I know _just_ what you need!" declared the shopkeeper finally, going into the back room. She came out with a beautiful, pure-white hooded cloak with a soft furry trim and presented it to Neliel to try on.

Anrak groaned and massaged his temples, knowing that this was going to cost him.

_**Maybe she won't want it…**_

A delighted squeal from Neliel as she saw herself in the mirror shot that hope all to hell.

"It matches your clothes beautifully, and it does a _marvelous_ job of accentuating your unique hair!" exclaimed the shopkeeper, but the sales pitch was unnecessary; Neliel was already thoroughly enchanted with it.

Growling at the price, Anrak pulled out his small coin purse and emptied it's contents onto the counter, effectively breaking him until the next payday a week from now.

The shopkeeper wished them well as they pulled up their hoods and stepped out of the store and back into the cold, and Anrak had barely taken two steps away from the door when Neliel seized him in an unbearably tight hug that nearly squeezed the life out of him.

"Nel!" he gasped, "I…can't…_breathe_!"

Immediately she let go and stepped back, looking apologetic as Anrak panted, sucking in several lungfuls of cold air.

"I'm sorry…" she said sheepishly.

Anrak sighed and waved it off, just grateful she didn't re-break his ribs. She grinned widely and stepped towards him again, to which he jumped back defensively, holding up his hands to ward her off.

She looked dejected by his actions, but only for a moment before her soft smile returned, and the two of them resumed their long walk back to the Seireitei as the sun set in the distance.

It was another four hours to reach the Seireitei, and night had fallen by the time they arrived. The snow was now four inches deep, the deepest he'd seen it in the past fifteen years, at least. As they parted ways, with Neliel going towards the guest quarters she'd been provided in Division 1 and he back towards his own in Division 11, he was stopped as a pair of arms encircled him from behind tightly, but still far gentler than before and, this time, decidedly much more pleasant.

"Thank you." Neliel whispered, her cheek pressed against the back of his left shoulder.

Then, as suddenly as it had happened, she broke away and headed back towards Division 1 again. Anrak turned to watch her go, trying to ignore the bright-red color his own cheeks had just turned.

"You're welcome…" he murmured to her retreating form, still stunned.

He had a feeling that now Kagi wouldn't be talking to him for a week.


	12. Of Snowballs and Secrets

**Of Snowballs and Secrets…**

The falling snow began to slow down sometime after midnight, after Anrak and Neliel had returned to the Seireitei, although it hadn't fully quit until a few hours ago. It was a new day, shortly after noon, and Anrak found himself in West 1, huddled around a fire with Takk and Satsu to stay warm, with snow blanketing the ground for as far as the eye could see. Nearly seven inches, the most snowfall the Soul Society had seen in the past eighty years.

And as if the biting cold wasn't bad enough by itself, hollows had once again been spotted roaming around the wastes of the various Rukon 1 districts and there were unconfirmed reports of civilians turning up missing. If those reports were accurate, it was only logical to assume they'd been found by the hollow and most likely eaten.

The Squad 2 surveillance team that had been sent to Hueco Mundo to monitor the situation around the grand palace of Los Noches were twelve hours overdue to report in themselves, leaving the Seireitei in a general state of unease.

Things would be turning ugly soon and in his mind's eye, Anrak was already imagining countless patches of red and black ice, with bodies strewn about everywhere like broken toys…

At least it wasn't that bad just yet; the hollows were still few and far, and all had been fairly weak. His personal assumption was that it was an exploratory force, meant to probe the Seireitei and how the Soul Reapers would respond; old man Yama countered with increasing security patrols in the first and second Rukon districts.

Anrak had been patrolling solo until he chanced upon Takk and Satsu a couple of hours ago and since then, the three of them had been working together. They'd just taken down a pair of hollows a few minutes earlier and were now gathered around a fire fueled by wood scavenged from a destroyed home.

"That last hollow had six hands, can you believe it? _Six _hands!" asked Satsu.

"You sound jealous; I mean, if _you_ had six hands, you'd have a date for almost every night of the week." quipped Takk.

Satsu scowled and flipped his elder brother off while Anrak chuckled lightly…which had the unfortunate side-effect of drawing their attention to him.

"Speaking of dates, I hear you've been pretty…_friendly_ with our new guest…" started Takk.

Anrak groaned at the accusation; he'd suspected this would be coming sooner or later, though he expected it more from Renji than these two.

"I'm just being nice to her, that's all. Making sure she feels welcome."

"Yeah? I heard you've been showering her with gifts of affection." added Satsu.

"And where, pray tell, did you hear _that_ crap from?" asked Anrak, though he already had a hunch.

"Lieutenant Abarai's been telling everyone about it."

_**Of course…**_ he thought sourly, knowing Renji was spreading such rumors solely to aggravate him.

"I bought her a cloak yesterday while we were on patrol, nothing more. Couldn't have her freeze to death, could I?" Anrak defended himself.

"With a body _that_ hot, she's in no danger of freezing to death." said Satsu, which got the other two men to stare at him. "What? Don't tell me you two haven't noticed it, too!"

Anrak didn't answer, opting instead to stare at the fire as he warmed his hands over the dancing flame. He hadn't really thought about her like that and tried not to, but his silence served only to encourage his two friends to poke at him further.

It was all in good humor and he couldn't be angry at them, but it did make him question himself; what _did_ he really think about Neliel?

Sure, he'd already entertained the notion that she was cute, and that she was quite intelligent, albeit a bit naïve and childish at times. Perhaps most importantly, she had a good heart-

_Hollows don't _have_ hearts!_

_**Neliel does.**_

_It's a trick, baka! She's nothing more than a glorified hollow putting on a 'sweet' act, and you're falling for it!_

_**Careful; your jealousy is showing.**_

Yeah, _that_ shut Kagi up pretty quick.

"Hey, look; it's that new lieutenant from Squad 7." said Takk abruptly, looking behind Anrak. Anrak didn't even turn away from the warm fire, and simply waved at Enjeru over his shoulder. There was no verbal response from the other Soul Reaper, and inexplicably, Anrak had a sudden, instinctual feeling that something was wrong as both Takk and Satsu took a couple of steps away from him.

"Incoming…" warned Satsu.

Anrak whirled to face the "attack" and was just in time to get glomped by a green-and-white blur. The two went down into the snow hard, sending powdery snowflakes flying.

"Annie!" squealed Neliel, hugging him tightly, _too _tightly. He gasped for air under her onslaught for a few seconds before Takk mercifully intervened.

"Could you kindly stop killing our friend?" he asked the overzealous woman.

Nel blinked, having forgotten how much physically stronger she was than the Soul Reaper, and released her friend as she stood up.

"Sorry." she said, cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

Anrak slowly crawled to his feet, savoring the ability to breathe once more for several long seconds before answering her.

"It's fine…just don't call me Annie, please." he said. Nel blushed deeper and tried to apologize again, but he shrugged it off as Enjeru finally caught up, grinning.

"You know, that was the funniest damn thing I've seen all week." he said.

"You put her up to it, didn't you?"

"Oh, I would have, but I didn't need to; she seems quite fond of you." said Enjeru teasingly as he began to warm himself by the fire. "I guess all the stuff Lieutenant Abarai has been saying about you two is true, isn't it?"

Neither Neliel or Anrak responded to that, each blushing furiously and looking away from one another.

"Anyway," continued Enjeru as he mercifully switched topics, "I was on my way out to help with the patrols when she stopped me and asked to tag along, saying that she'd followed you yesterday."

"Yeah, well, an eight hour patrol goes by much faster when you have someone to talk to." Anrak muttered.

"Oh, I agree wholeheartedly, so I let her come with me… Nice girl, really; can't see why she hangs around with a Squad 11 thug."

"Better me than some sissy from Squad 7." Anrak quipped. "By the way, congrats on the promotion."

Enjeru looked at the ground, fumbling at the lieutenant's badge on his left arm.

"I didn't want it like this; Iba had to die for me to get this opportunity. I never thought he'd be one of the ones to fall."

Anrak punched the other man in the arm.

"Stop the sulking; he wouldn't want you to beat yourself up like this." he said firmly. Enjeru nodded wordlessly, knowing his friend was right.

The five of them sat around the fire in relative silence for several minutes listening to the wind howl as it blew around them, with the first few flakes of fresh snow slowly descending from the heavens.

It was Neliel who finally broke the silence, getting so perilously close to Anrak's face with her own that he blushed involuntarily and wondered what the hell she was up to.

"An! Notice anything different?" she asked excitedly.

Of course, he noticed that she'd had her facial scar treated…but where was the fun in admitting to it when he could play dumb instead?

"New haircut?" he asked, trying to sound completely oblivious.

"No."

"New clothes?"

"No."

He paused at her last answer and made a show of looking her over, stroking his chin as if he were deep in thought.

"Lost weight?"

"No" she replied, beginning to look disappointed.

"Gained weight?"

"No!" she cried, obviously feeling a tad insulted with that one. He fought back the urge to grin as she pouted, clearly unhappy with his apparent inability to notice the change she'd had done.

"He's just teasing you, Nel." said Enjeru, unable to resist grinning himself at her frustration. She scowled at that, affixing Anrak with a semi-annoyed glare as he burst out laughing.

"I can't believe you _fell_ for that!" he chuckled at her. "It's your scar; you had it removed."

The scowl vanished as she positively beamed, nodding her head enthusiastically.

"Not removed entirely, but you can hardly see it anymore!" she explained excitedly. "It's so hard to see it when I look in a mirror now, it's like the last trace of what Nnoitra did to me is gone!"

"That's great!" Anrak congratulated her, "I'm happy for you."

"I feel _so_ much better with it gone, and I think I look better, too. What do you think?" she asked, and Anrak couldn't help but wonder if she was genuinely curious, or simply fishing for a compliment.

_**You look wonderful**_, was the first thought that went through his mind.

_You look like an ass! _countered Kagi vehemently.

"You look…okay, I guess." he said instead, trying to settle on a compromise. Unfortunately it didn't dawn on him how the words sounded until he'd actually said them and saw the look of hurt on her face.

"I mean, it's just that you always looked good to me and now you just look better, you know?" he explained hurriedly, mentally kicking himself as he realized what his words sounded like and what he was setting himself up for.

Meanwhile, he could hear Kagi gagging.

Neliel blushed madly, giving an embarrassed smile as the other three shinigami predictably began to tease Anrak.

"You're such a charmer, _Annie_!" teased Enjeru, grinning ear to ear.

"A few days ago you were trying to kill her, now it sounds like you're trying to _wed_ her… Man, you work fast." added Satsu.

"You'll name your firstborn after me, won't you" asked Takk pleadingly.

"It's not _like_ that!" exclaimed Neliel, looking genuinely shocked at the comments from the other three men.

"Damn right it's not." added Anrak gruffly, glaring death at his friends who, thankfully, had the courtesy to stop…at least for a minute, anyway. Still, rather than stand around in and listen to their juvenile teasing, he pulled his tattered brown cloak around his body more tightly and prepared to continue his patrol.

"I'm heading northeast; the rest of you can do…whatever it is you do." he muttered, heading away from the group.

"I'm heading west." said Enjeru, "Takk? Satsu? Feel like keeping me company?"

"Eh, sure; let's let the two of them have some alone time." said Takk, jerking his thumb towards Anrak and Nel. Anrak scowled and started to leave, only to find that Nel had already gotten a head start on him when he looked up, having apparently decided to join him.

"Well?" she asked, ignoring his surprise.

"Yeah, yeah; I'm coming." he said, trudging through the snow to catch up.

At that, Satsu made a whip-cracking noise…and was rewarded with a snowball smacking him in the face roughly.

Anrak wore a satisfied grin on his face as he shook the snow from his hands and turned back around to follow Nel and…

*SMACK*

He fell backwards into the snow, landing hard on his rear. He looked over at his attacker in disbelief, wiping the snow from his face as he did so.

Nel just smiled sweetly at him, somehow managing to look completely innocent even as she shook the excess snow off her mittens.

"Are you coming or not?" she asked, as if nothing had happened.

Anrak heard snickering from behind him and grabbed a fistful of snow, whirling around to silence the other three shinigami, but they were already retreating west, jogging to put distance between themselves and Anrak's vengeance.

Sighing, he stood up and brushed himself off and hurried to catch up to Neliel before she decided to plaster him with another snowball.

The duo trudged through the snow-covered wasteland, checking out debris piles and the burnt-out husks of buildings for hollows and survivors. Neither mentioned the teasing remarks their friends had made earlier, but the words hadn't left Anrak's mind, and he would be willing to bet they were lingering in hers, too.

Enjeru and the others were blowing it all out of proportion, really; he'd simply tried to apologize to Neliel for trying to kill her, had tried to make amends by being nice and friendly, and that was it. Sure, he'd found out they had a few things in common and shared some interests and sure, he thought she was somewhat attractive, and yes, he had discovered that he enjoyed her company immensely.

But none of that meant anything more than friendship, right?

_**It's all such a headache…**_

_I agree; let's kill her!_

_**That's **_**not**_** what I meant, and you know it.**_

"We're not alone…" murmured Neliel, removing her cloak and handing it to him, placing a hand on the hilt of her zanpaktou. Anrak looked around to see what she was talking about and noticed a group of hollows poking around a barely-standing shack that had probably been someone's home.

"I'll take care of-" he started, but Neliel cut him off sharply.

"_No_. I will earn my right to stay in the Seireitei; I will deal with them."

Without another word, she took a single step and vanished from sight, reappearing between two of the hollows in an instant.

_**Sonido, the Arrancar's answer to shunpo…**_

It had happened so fast that Anrak briefly wondered if she might be on par with Yoruichi in terms of pure speed.

Neliel pulled her zanpaktou with blinding speed and cut down the first hollow before it even had time to shriek. The second one opened it's mouth, but Nel spun around and delivered a powerful kick to it's midsection, driving the wind from it and sending it flying back several meters before slamming into a tree, the far side of the trunk exploding outward with a spray of splinters beneath the thunderous impact. The beast fell to the ground, out of the fight for the moment.

A third hollow stuck it's head out from behind the building and Neliel simply grabbed it by it's mask, hoisted it up over her head, and slammed it down into the ground roughly before reversing the grip on the zanpaktou in her other hand and stabbing downward, impaling the creature. A fourth lunged for her, but Neliel easily dodged it, instead grabbing the creature by it's ankle and flinging it high into the air. She looked up at it and took a deep breath…and then released a cero from her _mouth_, obliterating the creature as it fell.

Anrak stood bewildered as he watched the spectacle, having a hard time connecting the sight of the warrior before him now with the kind and gentle woman he _thought_ he knew. He saw the second hollow finally recover it's senses and charge Nel from behind, but before he could say anything to warn her, she'd already somersaulted backwards over it, neatly slicing it straight down the middle as she descended.

She was returning now, smiling warmly to let him know she was okay as she calmly returned her sword to it's sheath, all like it was no big deal and Anrak was having trouble picking his jaw up.

Even Kagi was speechless for once.

That was when the fifth hollow struck.

Rising up out of the snow behind Neliel, it caught them all off guard as it slashed at her with it's razor-like talons, raking them across her back.

Neliel's expression turned to one of surprise, but almost instantly she regained her composure and spun around, striking the creature in the neck with a fierce ridge-hand that severed it's head roughly, sending black blood spraying.

Anrak was sprinting towards her now, worried that she could be hurt…but Neliel only smiled as she shook the blood from her hand.

"I'm okay, An." she insisted, but he wouldn't have any of it as he spun her around to inspect the wounds on her back, expecting the worst.

There was nothing; the beast's claws had failed to penetrate her _hierro_ and had succeeded only in ripping the back of her white jacket-like top open, exposing the skin underneath and the black three inked into her flesh.

Anrak stared at the large tattoo on her back, the pieces of the puzzle falling into place as to why she was so dreadfully strong and how she could have been able to stand against a member of the Espada to save Ichigo's life.

He knew about the tattoos that all arrancar had and the significance of each: numbers eleven through ninety-nine received their tattoo based on their creation, arrancar with three digits were former Espada who had been replaced by stronger warriors, and numbers one through ten were the Espada themselves, with lower numbers representing stronger warriors.

"See? I told you I was okay!" exclaimed Neliel, sounding quite pleased with herself.

Anrak nodded as he wrapped her cloak around her shoulders for her, waiting for her to fasten it around her neck before speaking.

"You never told me you were one of the Espada." he said sofly.

Neliel didn't answer immediately, instead averting her eyes and looking at the ground.

"I was once the third Espada, yes…but that was a long time ago; it's not something I'm proud of anymore." she said slowly, the shame evident in her voice. She tugged on her cloak, pulling it around her body tighter. "I've been thinking about asking Captain Unohana if she can remove _that_ for me, too."

The former _Tres_ Espada… Anrak had known she was strong after his failed attempt to behead her, but he'd never imagined the truth about her power would be anything like this.

_**She could twist my head off with one hand, if she wanted to…and there would be nothing I could do to stop her, even using bankai…**_

"I'm sorry if you think I deceived you… It's been hard enough being accepted into the Seireitei without everyone knowing I was one of Aizen's chosen elite. I thought… I thought if everyone knew, _no one_ would have anything to do with me."

Sensing that she was on the verge of tears, Anrak gently placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, unsure of what the right thing to say or do was.

_**Guess I'll just wing it…**_

"Neliel, it's okay, really; it doesn't change a thing as far as I'm concerned." he assured her. She looked up at him and he could see her eyes were moist as he continued.

"Besides, we all have our secrets." he added, momentarily relaxing his control over his reiatsu and allowing her to know the truth about his own strength.

Her eyes widened as he reigned his spiritual pressure back in and he held up a finger to his lips, indicating for her to not say a word to anyone. While he wasn't as powerful as she was or even close to her level, his true strength was far, far greater than he allowed anyone else to know.

"Only three people know, aside from you." he said. "Takk, Satsu, and my adopted sister, Yoruichi."

Neliel nodded in comprehension.

"I understand; I won't tell anyone, I promise…but why do _you_ hide it?"

"When I graduated from the academy, I took a lot of flak for being weak. My instructors had low expectations of me and I was told that I shouldn't expect too much of myself, either, or I'd only be disappointed. Someday, probably soon, I'm going to get a golden opportunity to prove everyone wrong. I'll show them all that I'm _not_ just some nobody."

He eyed her evenly.

"You're somebody, too. When my day comes, I want you to do the same as me; don't hide it anymore. Stand up and be proud of yourself."

"But I served Aizen-"

"So did Takk and Satsu, and the rest of Squad 5. There's not a person in the entire Seireitei that _didn't _trust him before he betrayed us. He lied to you just like he did to us, he used you just like he did us, but that _doesn't_ take away from the fact that you are, or were, a member of an elite group. Aizen himself be damned; you should be _proud_ of your rank." he said firmly.

Neliel started at him with misty eyes for a moment before flinging herself at him, embracing him in yet another bone-crushing hug.

"You're so sweet! Ichigo and Renji were right when they told me you were a nice guy when you weren't trying to kill people!" she exclaimed happily.

"Nel…you're…_choking_…me…" he rasped.

She squeaked and released him, steeping back with a look on her face that said 'oops' better than words ever could.

"I'm sorry…"

"It's okay…I suppose I _should_ be used to it by now." he sighed.

Almost as if that were some kind of cue, she hugged him again, albeit much more gently this time. He stood there, captured in her embrace for a moment, blushing like a schoolboy before regaining control of his senses and shaking the excitable woman off his person.

"It's little things like _that _that give the others the wrong impression about us…" he said, looking away so she wouldn't notice his embarrassment.

"We can't have that, can we?" she mumbled in reply, also looking away. Anrak glanced at her quickly, having thought he heard a touch of regret in her tone, but she appeared to be fine as she looked back at him and smiled softly. He returned the gesture, and looked out at the sun setting in the horizon.

"It'll be dark soon… Come on, Neliel, let's go home."


	13. Revelation

**Revelation**

It had started in the pre-dawn hours of the previous day, shortly after midnight; over three dozen Garganta opened over the Rukon 1 wastelands and hollows began to pour in, assaulting the Seireitei walls.

It wasn't like the previous assault, the one authorized by Aizen; speculation after that battle was that Aizen had been looking to capture the Seireitei whole if possible. This time, the hollows seemed determined to destroy it entirely.

At least this time the real captains were around to help defend…

But even as countless hollows fell in battle and their forces were pushed back away from the Seireitei and back into Rukon 2, the attack didn't let up. Hollows had always outnumbered shinigami, but after the recent battles, the numerical difference had become significantly more pronounced.

Still, quality over quantity; the Soul Reapers were more intelligent and highly trained, and that helped even the playing field considerably.

Anrak had spent the previous day fighting in South Rukon 1, and today found himself in South Rukon 2 as the hollows were forced back. All regions of Rukon 2 were more densely populated than the first district, which meant collateral damage and civilian casualties would be much higher here, and he hated that idea.

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about it other than to keep fighting.

The bottom line, however painful it was to admit, was that the Rukon's safety was insignificant next to the Seireitei's.

It was the shinigami who maintained the delicate balance of souls in the world of the living, and without them, without the Seireitei, that balance would be destroyed. Without the Soul Reapers, less souls would manage to cross over, more hollows would be created…and there would be no one to protect the world of the living from said hollows.

As long as the Seireitei stood, balance could be maintained.

Even if the entire Rukon was destroyed, it could be rebuilt and repopulated with souls as they crossed over from the human world.

But only if the Seireitei survived.

_**Even if we win this fight, we still lose.**_ he thought bitterly.

No one liked the idea of forcing the battle deeper into the Rukon and further away from the Seireitei, but it was a necessary evil.

The plan was to _not_ push the hollows back any further than Rukon 3, though, so maybe the other seventy-seven districts would be safe. Any further than Rukon 3, and it would become a logistical nightmare to move forces and supplies to and from the Seireitei.

Considering how deep they were into Rukon 2 currently, it was six hours to the Seireitei on foot already, and that had forced them to begin using horses and carts for quicker travel times of an hour and a half.

The idea was for the Seireitei to have a steady flow of Soul Reapers going to and from each of the four regions of Rukon 2: North, South, East, and West. Fresh troops would come from the Seireitei and relieve the worn-out shinigami, who would load into the carts and head back to the Seireitei to have their wounds tended and to rest for a few hours before being sent out into the battle again.

Anrak _should_ have joined one of the groups heading back to the Seireitei three hours ago, but he'd needed to keep pushing harder, wanted to do more.

His black shihakushō was tattered and torn after nearly thirteen hours in the field, with plenty of blood splatters staining it. His matted hair was dripping with sweat, and as he wiped his brow with the back of his hand, he decided that he would take the next cart back to the Seireitei; after all, continuing with no rest would end up getting him killed.

Even Captain Kuchiki, who had been leading the battle, had returned to the Seireitei two hours ago, trading places with Captain Komamura.

Slicing a hollow down the middle quickly, Anrak wondered where his friends were, and how they were doing. Yesterday, he'd been fighting alongside Enjeru out here, but today the other Soul Reaper had been sent to another region, as had Renji, Takk, and Satsu. He'd heard that even Kurosaki had been recalled from the world of the living to aid in the Seireitei's defense, but he had yet to see the substitute.

Night had fallen hours ago, and still the battlefield was brightly lit, thanks to the numerous fires of homes and shops that were burning to the ground.

The earth beside him exploded, sending him through the air and into a small crumbling shack which proceeded to collapse on top of him. He was dimly aware that a cero had narrowly missed him, most likely courtesy of an Adjuchas. He dug himself out of the rubble and found a large hand offered out to him as he did so. He accepted the other Soul Reaper's help, and as he was pulled to his feet, he found himself nose-to-chest with the massive Captain Komamura himself.

"Sir!" he yelped, saluting.

Komamura waved the salute away, peering down at the sweaty and battered shinigami closely.

"How long have you been out here?" he asked in his deep, rumbling voice.

"…a while."

The captain narrowed his eyes at Anrak.

"How long?" he repeated.

"Thirteen hours, sir."

A mindless hollow charged them from the side, and Komamura simply thrust his blade out and impaled it, never taking his gaze from Anrak.

"I see… I want you on the next wagon home, you understand? You've done enough for today." commanded the large wolfish captain.

Even though he'd already decided to do just that at the next opportunity, Anrak wanted to argue the point with him; after all, he felt that if there was still fighting to do, then he hadn't really done enough.

He _wanted_ to argue, but decided against it, instead nodding and giving the appropriate "Yes, sir."

The next wagon wouldn't be arriving for another hour, which meant there was still time to fight.

Taking his leave from the captain, Anrak headed deeper into South 2, slaying hollows as he went and keeping an eye open for survivors.

At least Kagi seemed happy, happier than she'd been in the past week since Neliel's arrival in the Seireitei. The strange zanpaktou spirit was humming contentedly amongst the chaos that surrounded them, taking joy in the battle and the spilling of blood.

Anrak had a nasty feeling that she was probably imagining Nel every time they cut down a hollow, but he didn't dare call her out on it; maybe this would be therapeutic for Kagi and help her get past her hatred for the good-natured Arrancar.

…_**or not**_, he thought sourly, Kagi giggling darkly as she ripped through another hollow, leaving a spray of black blood in her wake.

He shook the excess blood from his sword, sighing as he did so. He couldn't share in Kagi's glee, especially when so many homes were being destroyed and innocents slain.

The solution was another raid on Hueco Mundo, this time with the intent to completely destroy the palace of Los Noches and kill Arrancar who still resided there, the ones who were no doubt behind this assault. Taking the battle there would remove the innocent people of the Rukon from harm's way and hopefully expedite the end of this war.

Of course, he was pretty sure that he wasn't the only person to think such; the question was if old man Yama would go for it or not, seeing as he was generally more reactive than proactive.

He stepped around a twisted and broken corpse that was once a child, cursing himself for not having been here earlier to prevent such a tragedy. The number of hollows finally seemed to be dwindling, but it hadn't come soon enough for some people. Anrak wondered how many civilians had managed to flee to safety, and how many others lay strewn amongst the battlefield.

Would they look back and call this a victory someday?

Probably.

The thought disturbed him.

He spent the next hour largely searching through ruins for survivors to no avail; everyone he found was already dead, save for one who gasped his last breath as Anrak tried to carry him to safety, away from the burning buildings and the fighting still going on.

He sat the corpse down, and plopped himself down on the ground beside it. He was exhausted, physically and mentally. He glanced at the body beside him before quickly looking away once more; while he enjoyed a good fight, seeing innocents die always rattled him to the core. It shouldn't be like this, it should _never_ be like this; civilians should never be caught in between two opposing forces.

He wasn't quite sure how long he spent sitting there before the next wagon full of replacements arrived, and might have missed the wagon entirely had Komamura not come by and shook him by the shoulder.

"Go back to your division and get some rest; we'll finish up here." he'd said gently. Anrak could only nod numbly as he climbed into the wagon.

He watched South Rukon 2 recede into the distance, the night growing blacker as the wagon headed back towards the Seireitei and away from the burning district.

_Does it bring back memories?_ asked Kagi softly, her voice holding a note of concern.

_**No… Should it?**_

_Better that it doesn't; some things are best left forgotten._

He wondered briefly what his zanpaktou was hiding from him, what she knew that he didn't, before deciding that she was right, and it was best left in the past. He'd come to the conclusion long ago that he didn't want to know about his previous existence as a human; it was a different life that no longer mattered now, and Kagi had readily agreed with the sentiment.

He was content to hear Kagi speaking to him in a civil fashion finally, though. The past week had been nothing more than angry silence and the occasional hate-filled comment towards Nel, and her tiny hint of concern signaled a return to normalcy that Anrak welcomed.

There was a medic from Squad 4 in the wagon, assessing everyone's wounds and injuries as they traveled home, slapping a bandage on here or there as needed. Anrak paid her no mind as she began to check him over, knowing this his wounds were all shallow and insignificant. Instead, he again wondered about his friends and where they were at the moment, and how they were holding up.

_**Better than me, I hope.**_

As the wagon pulled into the Seireitei and began unloading it's passengers, he decided that for now, all he could realistically do was trust in them and their abilities to stay safe.

The tired Soul Reapers began to disperse, with some going to their respective divisions and others heading to the infirmary over in Division 4. Anrak headed home to Division 11, making a quick stop by the quartermaster's office to requisition a new shihakushō and then to the barrack showers to try and wash away the blood and grime from his person.

Sleep came easily when he finally returned to his quarters, with the familiar and comforting darkness claiming him as soon as his head touched his pillow.

* * *

Hours passed as he slept, deeply and dreamlessly, and Kagi watched over him from her shadowy inner world.

She didn't dare pull his conscious mind into her realm to speak with him tonight, and this time it had nothing to do with their conflicting opinions on a certain green-haired Arrancar; Kagi had a feeling that her 'master' would need all the rest he could get, and that their time was coming.

_Master…_

She gave a short and bitter laugh at that. She was not as subservient as other zanpaktou, and refused to _ever_ seriously call Anrak her master, even if that was the nature of their relationship.

Anrak had never referred to himself as her master, either, and that pleased Kagi greatly. He called her a nag and a bitch, and she had a plethora of names by which she referred to him as: fool, moron, ass, lover…

He _hated_ it when she called him lover, which was precisely why she did it; it amused her to disturb him like that, and it ensured that he _never_ forgot that they were bonded together for life.

Kagi's favorite term had to be baka, though. Sure, it meant the same as fool and moron did, but over the years, it had become her pet name for him.

He was a baka, but he was _her_ baka; strong, driven, gentle, and loyal to a fault.

And Kagi had no intention of sharing him with that filthy Arrancar bitch.

Neliel didn't know Anrak like she did, and the wench never would. Hell, she couldn't; Kagi was bound to him in a way that Nel could never be, even _if_ her apparent affections were not just an act. Kagi _knew_ him, knew his past, knew _everything_.

Anyone else would be fine, Kagi mused, anyone except Nel. Soifon? Great! Rangiku? Kagi could support that. Rukia? Wonderful! Yoruichi would have been Kagi's first choice for Anrak, but the fool seemed completely unable to get past viewing the ex-captain as family.

Still, anyone _but_ the Arrancar. Hell, a _human _would be better in Kagi's not-so-humble opinion, but no, the moron already seemed to be infatuated with the ditzy, green-haired ex-Espada.

Outside, she could hear the sound of feet running up and down the halls, and voices yelling in the distance. Something was happening now, and while the noise would usually wake Anrak, he was too far gone tonight to hear anything beyond his door.

She didn't want to wake him, hated the idea of disturbing his sleep.

_He looks so peaceful…_

Still, Kagi knew that she had to; if there was trouble, he'd want to know.

_Wake up, fool!_ she shouted at him from within the bleak landscape of her little world.

* * *

It took a couple of calls for Anrak to begin to stir, sitting up in his bed and blinking slowly. He wondered what the hell Kagi's problem was for a moment, and then he heard all the noise out in the corridor, the sound of shinigami running from the barracks.

Something was up.

Quickly, Anrak jumped out of bed and dressed himself, noticing by the clock on the wall that he'd managed to get at least five hours worth of sleep. It wasn't as much as he'd have liked given the circumstances, but it would be enough.

It was still dark as he rushed outside, with sunrise still an hour away, and all of the other Soul Reapers had already vanished, leaving him with no answers as to what all the commotion was about.

Well, he could always go by the Command Center and find out straight from the source, he supposed.

The token Command Center was located in Division 12, where there were shinigami monitoring the world of the living and the various Rukon districts via computer every hour of every day. They would be keeping an eye on the various battles going on and the relative strength of each side present at said battle.

Anrak entered the command center, noticing as he walked in that Head-Captain Yamamoto was present, along with captains Tōshirō Hitsugaya of Squad 10 and Shunsui Kyōraku of Squad 8. No one seemed to notice his presence at first as they continued talking amongst themselves.

"Captain Kuchiki has taken Squads 3 and 6 to the south to reinforce Komamura." said Kyōraku.

"I've directed Squads 5 and 9 west to supplement Soifon and Kurotsuchi." added Hitsugaya.

"Good. I am sending most of Squad 11, as well as your own squads, to the north to aid Captain Unohana in her efforts." said Yamamoto.

"Alright; you want the two of us to head east and help Zaraki's group?" asked Shunsui.

"Indeed; they're two hours overdue to check in, and there are numerous strong spiritual pressures at their location, most likely Arrancar. Captain Kyōraku, I want you to take Ushii here with you." said Yamamoto, turning to face Anrak.

"Sorry to intrude, Head-Captain." Anrak apologized.

"Don't be; your captain and his team need backup, and it is a good thing that you are here to go to their aid."

"Yes, sir… If I may ask, who's out there with Captain Zaraki?"

Shunsui Kyōraku was a brilliant man despite his lazy demeanor, and as he watched the discussion between Anrak and old man Yama, he began to wonder just how strong the younger shinigami truly was.

He knew that Ushii had achieved Bankai, and Shunsui was willing to bet his best sake on the fact that Ushii had also been the 'captain' spotted at the North Gate during the previous siege, but none of that told him enough.

Sure, to be at the minimum level for Bankai required a strength befitting of a Fifth-Seat at _least_, and Ushii was doing a masterful job of appearing to be nothing more than a lowly Seventh-Seat. Shunsui also knew that the reports of the mysterious captain's spiritual pressure from the North Gate could have easily been exaggerated thanks to the chaotic nature of the battle, so that didn't help, either.

He figured the truth was that Ushii was at the low-end of what a Lieutenant _should _be, which was still very respectable, though he couldn't be certain.

Cliché as it was, Kyōraku envisioned Anrak's reiatsu to be like water tucked away behind a dam, and from where he was standing, Kyōraku couldn't see how much water it was holding back.

Hearing that Zaraki needed backup, Kyōraku sensed a tiny shift in Anrak's spiritual pressure, which registered as a storm over the dam, with a wave crashing against the backside, a fairly large spray of water spilling over the edge and cascading down the concrete surface.

It was to be expected; Zaraki was Anrak's captain after all, and it was known that everyone in Squad 11 held Zaraki in high regard for some reason or another; the concept of their seemingly-invincible captain possibly needing assistance would shake any of them.

"The substitute Kurosaki is with him,-" said Yamamoto, and again Kyōraku saw a bit of water rise up and splash over the side of the dam, albeit not as much. He obviously knew Kurosaki, was friends with him on some level, but not close friends.

"-Lieutenant Abarai of Squad 6,-"

_That _got a significantly bigger response, and Shunsui saw a very large wave of water slosh over the edge of the reiatsu dam. It didn't surprise him, as he knew Anrak and Renji to be good friends, and thinking back on it, he'd seen the two of them together drinking sake more times than he could count.

"-and the Arrancar girl." Yamamoto finished.

Shunsui saw Anrak's eyes widen at that, and the scene of the dam suddenly went frighteningly quiet and deceptively serene.

"Ah, hell…" he muttered to himself, knowing this couldn't be a good sign.

Anrak stood frozen in place as his mind registered everything that had been said.

Arrancars in the Rukon…

Captain Zaraki needing backup…

Renji in trouble…

"Neliel…" he breathed.

The dam finally burst.


	14. Through the Fire and Flames

**Through the Fire and Flames**

The reaction of both Captain Hitsugaya and Captain Kyōraku was everything he'd ever hoped for; the look of utter shock on their face, and on the faces of everyone in the Command Center… Anrak knew that he didn't begin to compare to the likes of Yamamoto, but now the truth about his strength was laid bare for all to see, that he was _far_ more than anyone had expected, more than just some simple peon.

It was the reveal he'd been waiting over a century for and the surprise it had caused was _exactly_ as he'd always envisioned. It was a moment he'd always thought he'd savor, a moment of triumph over a hundred years in the making…

And he couldn't care less.

It didn't matter anymore, not with his captain and his friends in trouble.

He bolted from the Command Center, not bothering to wait for either Captain Hitsugaya or Captain Kyōraku, ignoring their orders to stop.

_**Orders be damned!**_

He sprinted through the streets of the Seireitei, heading for the East Gate and the battle that loomed far beyond it. He didn't stop for other Soul Reapers as he came upon them nor did he take time to go around them; either they moved on their own accord or he simply plowed through them.

There was no time for courtesy, no time to be rational, and no time to wait for anyone's assistance, be they captain or not.

Finally he reached the East gate and burst out into the remains of East Rukon 1, and out here in the open, he ceased simply sprinting and went straight into his _shunpo_, intent on covering as much ground as quickly as possible.

There was still a light snow on the blood-stained ground and he could vaguely hear it crunching underfoot as he sped through the desolate wasteland, desperate to reach his friends at all costs. The morning sun had yet to rise, but there were just enough fires still burning to light a path through the darkness. Rukon 1 was still a broken mess and until this godforsaken war ended, it could _never_ be repaired.

_On a cold winter morning,  
__In the time before the light,  
__In flames of death's eternal reign,  
__We ride towards the fight._

Anrak could barely hear Kagi's singing over the thundering of his own heart, too worried about his friends to think about anything else. He opted to ignore her for the moment, instead focusing on the task at hand as he ran through the now-nightmarish landscape. The flickering of the fires made the shadows of the dwindling night appear to be alive, doing a wicked and frightening dance of the dead.

Try as he might, Anrak couldn't remember a time when the Soul Society had ever had it so bad. Once more he cursed the sadistic and treacherous Aizen to the deepest and hottest depths of Hell; even though the bastard was already dead, all the carnage and suffering still plaguing the Rukon was his fault and his fault alone.

Through his cursing, he could just faintly make out Kagi's voice singing, but he could tell that she was slowly gaining volume.

_When the darkness has fallen down,  
__And the times are tough all right;  
__The sound of evil laughter falls around the world tonight._

Anrak raced past a small winding river that cut through the Rukon, a river that was usually overflowing with fish, but in the moonlight he could see that the normally-clear waters were murky and full of ominous black shapes; debris and corpses from all the fighting, fighting that was still going on as he passed several unranked shinigami engaged in battle with lesser hollows.

_Fighting hard, fighting on for the steel,  
__Through the wastelands evermore.  
__The scattered souls will feel the hell,  
__Bodies wasted on the shore!_

Kagi's voice was steadily gaining strength now, becoming easier and easier to hear over his pounding heart and the sounds of battle echoing throughout the war-torn Rukon. Her words carried a haunting melody that made the bleak reality of it all so much more vivid than it would have been on it's own.

_On the blackest plains in Hell's domain,  
__We watch them as we go;  
In fire and pain,  
__And once again we know!_

His legs pumped hard against the ground and Anrak knew himself to be running faster than he ever had before, faster than he'd ever even imagined himself capable of in his wildest dreams. Briefly, he wondered if this was what it felt like to be Yoruichi, the Flash Goddess herself.

Turning left, he opted to take a shortcut through the small dense forest that sat on the dividing line between the first and second districts.

_So now we fly, ever free…  
We're free before the thunderstorm.  
On towards the wilderness, our quest carries on!_

No light penetrated the canopy of the trees as he ran, leaving him unsure as to just how close to sunrise it might be. It was dark, nearly too dark to see, but he could just barely make out the shadowy shapes of tree trunks in the blackness, and so he kept on running, pushing himself to his limits.

_Far beyond the sundown,  
__Far beyond the moonlight,  
Deep inside our hearts and all our souls…_

His muscles were aching; flash-step wasn't meant to be used this long, not to cover these kind of distances, and he knew he was dangerously over-taxing his body, but he didn't care about that right now; the only thing that mattered was getting there in time to help his friends.

He burst free of the woods and into a ruined section of East Rukon 2 and was immediately greeted by the sight of more burning buildings and twisted corpses littering the ground. He felt his heart break again at the sight of so many innocent civilians lying dead and while he wondered how much longer this nightmare war would last, he couldn't afford to dwell on it right now.

Steeling himself, he took another shortcut across a burning field of debris that had once been a lively neighborhood, ignoring the searing flames as they licked at his skin and using his own reiatsu to protect himself, an act which made the flames closest to him turn black as the night sky for a brief moment.

_So far away, we wait for the day,  
For the lives all so wasted and gone!  
We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days,  
Through the fire and the flames we carry on!_

Kagi's voice had risen in volume considerably and was much stronger now, far more passionate than it had been before as she lost herself to some unheard music, her song now reverberating through Anrak's skull.

The skies ahead of them were turning crimson now as the morning sun could just barely be seen rising over the horizon. To their right, off in the distance, a fierce blue light split the sky apart with what sounded more like a tiger's roar than true thunder, perhaps a sign that someone had released their zanpaktou in battle.

_**Enjeru?**_ Anrak wondered briefly.

The few survivors that he saw looked up at the spectacle, shielding their eyes from the bright flash with their hands. He could hear some of them cursing the Soul Reapers as he ran past them, and he knew that the civilians blamed all of the destruction on the Seireitei and the shinigami. It hurt, but he couldn't fault them; after all, if they'd been more observant, maybe Aizen could have been stopped before it came to this, before he even had a chance to betray the Soul Society.

_As the red day is dawning,  
And the lightning cracks the sky,  
They'll raise their hands to the heavens above  
With resentment in their eyes._

The sun was steadily rising higher in the sky now and Anrak's lungs felt as if they were going to explode. He knew that Yoruichi would scream at him for being so foolish as to use _shunpo_ for such an extended period, but he had no choice; he couldn't afford a six to seven hour walk, and neither could he afford to ride a horse for an hour, not with all his friends fighting for their lives.

The Seireitei that was so far behind him was all but forgotten now, along with Hitsugaya and Kyōraku who were supposed to be a part of this operation. Anrak supposed that he could be court-martialed for ignoring their orders to stop and wait for them, but he didn't care; let them execute him or exile him to Hueco Mundo if they wished, but he was doing what he knew had to be done. He had to help his friends, no matter what the cost.

_**Hang on, I'm almost there!**_ he thought fiercely, as if somehow Renji, Ichigo, and Nel might hear his silent cry.

_Running on in the mid-morning light,  
There's a burning in my heart;  
We're banished from a time in a fallen land,  
To a life beyond the stars!_

Kagi's voice had truly come alive now and more and more, Anrak could sense her growing excitement and anticipation of the battle to come.

Up ahead in the distance, he could finally feel the familiar reiatsu of Zaraki and he could just barely make out the form of the great bone-serpent that was Renji's bankai. He'd be there in just a few more seconds…

_In your darkest dreams, see to believe  
Our destiny is tied!  
And__ endlessly, we'll all be free tonight!_

Kagi was right; after today, their secret would be out and he'd finally be free: free to stop suppressing himself in the presence of his peers, free to be himself, free to stop living a lie.

_And on the wings of a dream, so far beyond reality…_

Yes, they had dreamed of this moment for a long time now; it was something the two of them had wanted for so long, so very long…

But Anrak no longer cared about that dream.

He only wanted one thing right now, the only thing that mattered anymore…

He could see them battling now, could see his friends.

Zaraki was facing five Arrancar, and despite being battered and literally drenched in blood, he wore a sadistic grin that indicated he was having the time of his life. His trademark eyepatch had been removed, showing that he didn't feel the need to handicap himself for this fight, and that by itself meant things were bad.

Kurosaki wore the hollow mask that Anrak had only heard tales of up until this point and while his foe appeared to be quite powerful, Ichigo appeared to be holding his own. Still, the arrancar was apparently enough of a handful that the substitute shinigami couldn't simply finish him quickly and help the others and that definitely wasn't good.

A bloodied Renji had the massive serpent that was _Zabimaru_ coiled around him defensively, with three Arrancar trying to shatter their way through the thick, boney plates of Zabimaru's armor. The giant snake cried out in defiance and refused to yield under the assault and Anrak saw the fanged skull-like head lunge forward and snap at one of the aggressors.

Neliel was engaging four Arrancar at once and despite her incredible swordsmanship, Anrak could see that the numerical difference put her at a disadvantage as the tip of a sword bit into her shoulder, sending a splash of crimson into the air. As Nel stumbled from her wound, another Arrancar managed to dislodge the zanpaktou from her weakened grip and knock the former Espada to the ground.

Anrak saw everything before him, and he narrowed his eyes in determination.

He had to help his captain, he had to help his friends…

_**I **_**have**_** to save Nel!**_

_All alone in desperation,_

Kagi's voice hit it's crescendo now and as the zanpaktou pulsed on his hip, Anrak could literally _feel _her eagerness to fight, could _taste_ her growing bloodlust. He gripped the hilt of _Kage Shitsukoi _tightly as he drew her from the scabbard, ready to unleash her black rage upon their enemies.

_Now our time has come!_

Truer words were never spoken.

"_Bankai!_"


	15. Black Steel, Red Blood

**Black Steel, Red Blood**

It was Ichigo who saw him first.

He was airborne at the time, high above the ground staring down his foe during a brief lull in their fight. He was tired, panting, and while being hollowfied, the sound came out more like a series of snake-like hisses than anything else. Kurosaki was about ready to take the fight to the Arrancar before him once more when he first felt another spiritual pressure arriving on scene, and as he glanced downward to confirm the identity of the new combatant, all he could see was a black comet racing across the ground leaving shadowy contrails in it's wake.

Meanwhile, Renji peered out from behind the boney plates of _Zabimaru_ that were currently shielding him, weighing his options. Three on one was not a good situation to be in at his current level and he knew it; he was confident that he could take two of them, but the third one was proving troublesome and so he played defensively while he considered ways to even the odds.

That was the moment that he felt the arrival of a familiar reiatsu, familiar yet far stronger than he'd ever known it to be.

And _that _was the moment he saw a black blade come from behind his opponents, biting into the third one's chest from the right side before neatly shearing through flesh and bone and cutting the Arrancar in half horizontally, leaving Renji with two enemies to face instead of three.

Much better odds.

Zabimaru began to unfurl from around him, ready to fight in earnest again, and Renji cast a glance back towards the black figure tearing it's way through the battlefield, smirking as he did so.

"I was wondering when you were going to stop pretending, fool…" he said, more to himself than anything. He looked back towards his two remaining opponents and grinned. "Now then, who wants to die first?"

A few meters away stood the bloodied and menacing figure of Captain Kenpachi Zaraki, who despite his many injuries, was _still_ grinning like a madman and taunting his five opponents defiantly.

"If you all attack at once, you _might_ manage to kill me." he baited them.

They obliged and began to charge…and abruptly went flying about in different directions as a black _something_ bowled straight through them, trampling one unlucky arrancar underfoot in the process. Zaraki blinked, momentarily confused; he recognized the reiatsu, albeit just barely.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, he thought back to the reports of the mysterious captain from the earlier siege on the Seireitei and the debriefing of one of his officers, replaying part of their conversation in his head.

_Are you sure you didn't see anything about this 'captain' at the North Gate? What his shikai looked like, what he looked like, anything?_

_Very sure, sir._

"Son of a bitch, it was _you_!" Zaraki roared across the wasteland as he put two and two together and realized he'd been deceived.

His anger threatened to boil over and drive him to attack the other man for a split second before he relaxed, grinning psychotically again as a feeling of pride overtook him; this was simply more proof that Squad 11 was the strongest of the Gotei 13, he realized, and that knowledge consoled him, sparing the other shinigami from his wrath…

…for now, anyway.

For Neliel, while she had felt the new spiritual pressure, she found herself too busy dodging sword strikes to realize that there was a familiar feel to it.

She'd adjusted to the wound in her shoulder, adapting to the pain to the point where she no longer felt it and it no longer hampered her movements, but she was still without her zanpaktou and was cut off from retrieving it. Still, she was far from helpless, though her current position kneeling on the ground with an Arrancar towering over her suggested otherwise. The aggressor raised his blade high into the air, making a grand show of it as he prepared to come down and cleave Nel straight down the middle…and that was _exactly_ what she wanted.

_I can catch the blade…time it right, catch it on the downward swing, and disarm him,_ she thought to herself, body tensing as the sword began it's descent.

She was surprised when it halted midway down and her attacker's eyes went wide as he dropped the sword, with some two feet of black steel suddenly protruding from his chest. He pulled at the blade weakly, trying to dislodge it as he was hefted into the air by the offending object.

Nel could see a figure behind her enemy now, a black silhouette against the backdrop of the morning sun. For a moment she thought it might be Ichigo, until she realized that there was a second blade in the figure's offhand.

The impaled Arrancar shuddered violently as the first sword suddenly withdrew from his torso, leaving a bloody, gaping hole only a few inches away from his perfectly-circular hollow hole. He began to fall but before he'd even collapsed to the ground, the figure swung the second sword and neatly severed his head.

Neliel blinked up at the figure before her, straining her eyes against the glare of the morning light until she could finally make out the face of her savior, a very familiar and welcome face.

"An?" she questioned, not quite believing her eyes.

She got to her feet slowly, taking in the sight of the shinigami she thought she knew, noting the gleaming black armor the he was clad in, polished enough that she could even see her reflection in his breastplate. She looked at his face and noticed the sweat dripping from his hair as he panted for breath, almost as if he'd just finished a marathon.

It dawned on her that he'd probably flash-stepped the entire way here from the Seireitei and that shunpo, much like her own sonido, was as spiritually taxing as it was physically. He'd expended a lot of energy to get here and while Anrak's intervention had evened the odds somewhat, Neliel realized that he couldn't have a lot left in him to fight with.

"I'll take it from here, Neliel." he said, giving her a weary smile.

"No!" she cried, "You can't!"

"I know you don't like fighting… It's okay, I can handle this."

"An, look at yourself! You're exhausted! You'll get yourself killed!" she protested, but he wasn't listening.

He charged in, forcing two of the remaining three arrancar back under a vicious flurry of strikes from his twin swords. Nel growled in frustration at his recklessness, but used the opportunity to finally retrieve her zanpaktou. As she picked up her blade, she saw the third arrancar circle around behind Anrak, swinging his gigantic cleaver-like zanpaktou at the Soul Reaper's lower spine.

"No!" Nel cried out in horror, expecting the worst as the mammoth blade connected with Anrak's back…and halted.

Nel blinked, simultaneously dumbfounded and relieved that the armor was apparently far stronger than it's size suggested.

For his part, Anrak glanced over his shoulder at the offending creature behind him, extending his elbow spikes as he did so. The arrancar moved just enough to avoid being impaled by the sudden appearance of the ten-inch blades, but not enough to escape completely unhurt as one of them sliced deep into the left side of his chest.

Neliel reappeared next to him now, wordlessly taking back the other two arrancar as Anrak retracted the elbow blades and turned to face the third cleaver-wielding foe, and she was relieved that Anrak didn't protest her interference.

It was at that point some unspoken agreement seemed to pass between all the invading arrancar that the sudden loss of two of their own made for an unacceptable shift in the battle's momentum and the response was for all of them to begin releasing their zanpaktou.

_**Not good**_, Anrak though to himself as the Arrancar before him grew half-again in size, his entire right arm becoming one giant cleaver and his left arm a massive spiked ball. He cast a glance over towards Neliel just in time to see her doing the same and he was surprised to see that her release form was a four-legged centaur-like creature.

_**Then again, didn't she once tell me the other Espada had called her the 'Antelope Knight?'**_

_Less thinking, more fighting, baka!_ chided Kagi.

The cleaver arrancar seemed to agree as he charged in, giving a deep battle roar as he swung his massive blade-arm for Anrak's head.

Anrak spun his offhand sword around into a reverse grip and raised it quickly, blocking the powerful strike easily with his augmented strength. He grinned again as the Arrancar's expression of bloodthirst gave way to surprise, and swung his main sword at his foe's head in reprisal.

The arrancar jumped backwards quickly enough to keep from having the top of his head sheared off at the bridge of his nose, but not quite fast enough to avoid having his nose slashed open by itself.

"Next time, I won't miss." Anrak promised darkly, a frightening and feral grin on his face.

Before the arrancar could respond, Anrak was on him with a fierce battery of attacks, forcing the arrancar backwards even as he dug his heels into the ground to try and hold off the assault. A powerful kick to the gut ended his feeble resistance, however, and sent him flying backwards for several meters before he hit the ground, tumbling end over end prior to finally coming to a stop.

Anrak charged in, fully intent on finishing off his grounded opponent. He saw the battered arrancar heft his left arm, the spiked ball, and aim it, and Anrak realized a bit belatedly that it was far more than just a simple club-like appendage.

The ball fired outward at incredible speed, slamming into Anrak's chest with what _should_ have been devastating force…but the armor held strong under the impact and the spikes failed to penetrate. Still, the raw power of the impact knocked Anrak off his feet this time, sending him sprawling backwards into the dirt. He coughed as he sat up, having had the wind momentarily knocked out of him.

The arrancar was back on his feet now, grinning as he pulled his spiked-cannonball back into his arm with a chain made of bone.

Anrak had no intention of giving the creature time to reload and fire again, and leapt to his feet for another, final attack…and was surprised when the arrancar ceased reeling the ball in and instead began to use it as a flail, again striking Anrak center-mass.

It hurt like hell and he realized that this time, at least three of the spikes had penetrated his armor and stabbed into his flesh. He tried to pull the ball away, only to find that it wouldn't budge. He glanced down and saw that the spikes had changed into little three-pointed hooks now.

"Gotcha." sneered the arrancar, giving the connecting chain a powerful yank which jerked Anrak off his feet and sent him airborne for a moment before being slammed back down into the ground like a rag doll.

_**Kagi, what the-**_

_The armor's strength is proportional to how much spirit energy you have, baka, and you used up most of your reserves using shunpo! _Kagi replied, barely finishing the sentence before Anrak was again bashed into the ground by the flail he was now hooked to.

Definitely not good.

Again he was jerked into the air, and this time he was tossed through the single remaining wall of a destroyed building. He groaned as he sat up in the rubble, blood pouring from his scalp and the flail still hooked into his chest.

_**Relax on the chest!**_ he ordered, going with the only idea he could think of.

Kagi obliged and slackened her dark and protective embrace right as the arrancar jerked on the chain again, and this time the ball flew free, taking metal chunks of armor and bits of flesh with it, along with a not-so-healthy spray of blood. Anrak coughed as the ball went free and forced a toothy, bloodstained smile at his foe.

"That all you got?" he taunted as the arrancar finished reeling the cannonball back in and readied another shot.

_**One more flash-step…**_

With a roar of hate, the arrancar fired again, aiming for Anrak's now-exposed chest. Anrak stood and waited…and waited…and vanished at the last second, reappearing a few feet ahead of the arrancar, beside the extended chain, and he grinned as he brought Kagi down on top of the chain, slicing through the boney links with ease and severing the spiked ball permanently.

The beast howled in pain, only to receive a massively-powerful skip-sidekick to the jaw, shattering the bone and sending him flying backwards into the dirt.

Anrak turned his head and spat out a mouthful of blood, trying to ignore the burning pain in his torso.

"Get up; I'm not finished with you yet." he commanded his foe in a hard-edged tone that would have made his captain proud.

The arrancar struggled back to his feet and while he could no longer speak, the look of raw hate in his eyes said more than words ever could.

"Yeah, I hate you, too, so let's make this our last dance." sneered Anrak in reply and inwardly, Kagi was cheering at his fearlessness and determination.

It was uncertain who charged who first as they clashed, exchanging a high-speed volley of strikes as the two tried desperately to kill one another. Anrak's augmented strength allowed him to easily surpass the arrancar in terms of raw power, but guarding his injured and exposed chest severely hampered his attack speed, giving the edge there to the cleaver-wielding foe before him.

All things considered, it put them on relatively equal footing.

He saw the cleaver raise into the air for an overhead strike and Anrak instinctively raised his offhand blade up to deflect the blow, noticing as he did so that there were a hundred spider-web cracks running throughout the blade.

_**Kuso!**_ he swore mentally, realizing the strength of the second sword probably worked on the same principles as the armor.

He jerked his head to the side at the last second as the cleaver came down and shattered the offhand sword into a thousand tiny slivers of black steel. It continued on it's downward arc and narrowly missed Anrak's head as it slammed into his left shoulder. The armor held mostly, but not completely as Anrak felt the sharpened edge of the blade biting into his flesh.

But his main sword, the true _Kage Shitsukoi_, was still intact, and her blood groove was glowing red with the promise of death.

Dropping the broken hilt from his left hand, Anrak reached his hand up to grab the cleaver and hold it in place, a terrible grin spreading across his face as he locked eyes with the confused arrancar.

"I told you before that I wouldn't miss again and I _always_ keep my promises!" he roared, slashing up with his zanpaktou. The arrancar opened his mouth to scream, but with the broken jaw, all he could manage was a sickly gurgling sound as Kagi tore upward through his body, consuming it in a flash of black fire as she went.

The gurgling sound faded and there was no sign left of the arrancar other than the disembodied cleaver-like arm still embedded in Anrak's left shoulder and the scorched earth at his feet. Scowling, he tugged at the cleaver, working at it for a couple of seconds before finally tearing it free, an act which unfortunately shattered some of the remaining armor and exposed his shoulder.

He glanced around at the battles still raging about him, taking note that for the most part, everything seemed to be going well now…except for Captain Zaraki, who seemed to have bitten off more than he could chew for once with the five arrancar that were encircling him.

Anrak knew his captain would _never_ actually accept an offer to help, but he had to do something; maybe if he phrased it in a way that would be less insulting to the captain's ego…

His mind made up, Anrak charged into the fray, raking the talons of his left hand across the face of one and intercepting a sword strike meant for Zaraki's backside from another with Kagi.

"What the hell do you think you're _doing_, Ushii?" bellowed an angry Zaraki over his shoulder, the expression on his face suggesting that he was strongly considering killing Anrak for his interference.

"I'm sorry, Captain, but I'm all out of playmates, and these two seem too weak to even be worth your time…" he said, trailing off.

Zaraki wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer but he was no fool either, and he recognized the thinly-veiled offer to help. He chewed the idea over in his head for a moment, torn between his pride and the knowledge that if he _didn't_ accept some form of aid, he would die out here…and dying without ever getting his rematch with Kurosaki wasn't something he wanted to do.

Peering down at his smaller, armor-clad subordinate, Zaraki decided there was also another fight he had to live long enough to enjoy.

"Feh, they're boring me to death, anyway." he finally declared. "But don't come crying to me if you get yourself killed!"

"Of course not, Captain!" Anrak replied, fighting back a grin. He looked back at the two arrancar, one who resembled some sort of porcupine with hundreds of sharp, boney quills protruding from his back, and the one with a zanpaktou, whose lower body was that of a serpent.

Anrak gestured for them to "come and get it," and they were all too eager to comply, especially the chubby porcupine whose face was _still_ bleeding profusely from Anrak's talons.

The snake was the fastest by far and Anrak dodged to the side as it lunged forward, zanpaktou poised to run him through. The weak link, he figured, was the slow porcupine-like creature and that meant he should die first. Anrak charged in and attacked relentlessly with his zanpaktou, and though the beast was unarmed, he effortlessly deflected each strike with his thick, boney forearms.

_Behind us!_

He reacted instantaneously to Kagi's warning, diving off to the side just in time to avoid being skewered by the serpent again, and the serpent's momentum caused him to slam into his fat friend and sent the two of them tumbling across the blood-stained ground.

But even as he was rolling across the dirt, the porcupine had a nasty trick up his sleeve as he fired a salvo of sharp boney quills back in Anrak's direction.

Anrak dodged as best he could, but several of the dangerous projectiles found their mark, penetrating the armor and stabbing into the soft flesh beneath it.

And one of them slammed into his exposed stomach, impaling him as the razor-sharp tip protruded from his backside.

He coughed, throwing up copious amounts of thick, red blood as he did so.

Clenching his teeth against the pain, he reached down and forcibly yanked the spike from his stomach, screaming as it tore free in a gush of crimson. He panted heavily and with a swipe of his zanpaktou, he cut the remaining spines short rather than trying to pull them all out one by one.

The distraction cost him as the snake-like arrancar fell upon Anrak, encircling him within it's deadly coils and squeezing the life out of the wounded shinigami.

"Neliel hugs me harder than this!" he choked out defiantly, which served only to make the arrancar squeeze tighter.

Anrak screamed underneath the monstrous pressure and he could hear the armor creaking as cracks began to rapidly spread through it's surface. The arrancar grinned at the trapped shinigami and plunged his zanpaktou into Anrak's exposed left shoulder, impaling it.

The world was starting to fade to black, but Anrak wasn't about to die here, not like this, not to an opponent as weak as this.

_**Neliel would never forgive me…**_

He flexed the muscles in his arms and forced his elbow blades to extend once more, a trick the unfortunate serpent hadn't seen before. The ten-inch blades did their job and sliced their way through the tightening coils effortlessly, forcing the serpent to release it's grip. The wounded shinigami slumped to the ground as the serpent thrashed about wildly from his wounds and with a grunt, Anrak forced himself back to his feet and hefted Kagi overhead dramatically with his good arm. The arrancar looked up at him, an expression of horror etched on it's face.

"_Shinu!_" he roared, bringing _Kage Shitsukoi _down and cleaving the Arrancar's head in two.

Looking away from the gruesome mess before him, he reached his right hand over and pulled the fallen Arrancar's zanpaktou from his now-useless left shoulder, throwing the bloodied blade to the ground in disgust.

He turned back to look at the porcupine, panting heavily as exhaustion threatened to overtake him. He was tired and badly wounded and Anrak knew that this could very well be his death.

_**So be it…we'll go down fighting!**_

He began to walk towards his last remaining enemy and each agonizingly-slow step felt like a red-hot poker in his still-bleeding gut. The very edges of his vision were turning black and he knew he would soon collapse…but not until he finished this fight, one way or another.

The bright blue of the morning sky turned gray and stormy and for a moment, Anrak thought he was too late and that the darkness was taking him then, but a great roar that reverberated through the air told him otherwise.

He could see the source of the disruption now as the great ice dragon that was Hyōrinmaru filled the sky, announcing the arrival of Captains Hitsugaya and Kyōraku.

The awe-inspiring sight of Hyōrinmaru distracted the arranca, and Anrak noticed the blood groove on his black sword, showing that Kagi was once again ready to release her rage. Summoning up the last of his strength, Anrak dashed forward, ignoring the burning pain in his chest and stomach as he charged.

This fight was as good as finished.

The arrancar finally tore his eyes away from the massive dragon in the sky and noticed Anrak's charge, but he had no time to defend himself as the tip of _Kage Shitsukoi _pierced his chest dead-center, with Kagi's pent-up fury amplifying the already-augmented power of the thrust another sevenfold. The arrancar was literally torn asunder from the impact, black fire incinerating his body whole and continuing to race forward, scorching a large conical patch of earth in front of Anrak for almost two dozen meters.

Nothing was left of the arrancar save for a pile of charred, boney quills.

He heard one of the arrancar elsewhere on the battlefield shout out an order to retreat…the one Kurosaki was fighting, he thought, but it was impossible to be sure.

A garganta opened, the massive gateway to Hueco Mundo, and all the remaining arrancar made a break for it, though Anrak saw one of them get encased in a block of solid ice, frozen in time for a brief moment before the massive bone-serpent _Zabimaru_ came crashing down on top of it, shattering the ice and the arrancar trapped inside.

They'd done it…they'd pushed the arrancar back and out of the Soul Society, sent them packing back to the deserts of Hueco Mundo.

He allowed himself a small smile as he teetered on his feet, savoring the sweet taste of victory for a moment and feeling so very, very tired.

_Stay with me, baka! Don't close your eyes!_

Anrak frowned, not quite sure what Kagi was babbling about, or why her voice suddenly seemed so very far away. He turned to look out at his friends, and as he did so, he felt the armor disperse back into wispy black shadows, leaving him. His frown deepened with the realization that he hadn't voluntarily recalled his bankai, but he couldn't understand why it had left him.

He looked at his friends with a questioning look on his face and was surprised to see them all wearing expressions of horror as Nel, Renji, and Ichigo appeared to be yelling at him. He could see them moving their lips, speaking to him, but…no sound came out.

It was silent, the entire scene before him was deathly silent, and worse still, he could no longer hear Kagi's voice either and that sent a flicker of fear running through him as the world began to turn black again.

The zanpaktou in his hand suddenly felt heavy, too heavy to hold as his fingers went numb and his grip failed, letting the black sword clatter to the ground beside him. He wobbled unsteadily on his feet, his balance also failing him as he saw his friends racing towards him.

The last thing he saw was the earth rushing up to meet him.


	16. Hollow Tears

**Hollow Tears**

Time seemed to slow as the shinigami fell forward, eyes rolling back into his head as he lost consciousness. Horrified as she was of her friend's condition, Nel was grateful she was able to force herself to ignore the shock and dash forward, recalling her resurrección form and just barely catching Anrak before his head collided with the hard, unforgiving ground.

Gently, she eased him down and rolled him onto his back, choking back tears as she got a close-up view of his injuries.

There was a jagged gash in his scalp that was bleeding profusely, but it was his torso that scared her the most.

The bleeding hole in his stomach gave Nel an unwelcome view of organs that should normally never be seen, and enough flesh had been torn away from his chest to reveal part of his sternum. The bloodied piece of bone wasn't broken entirely, but there was a deep crack that shouldn't have been there.

His left shoulder wasn't much better with a gruesome hole that suggested it had been ran through by a sword.

Anrak's breathing was shallow and ragged, and he was _still_ losing blood.

The others stood around the fallen shinigami now as Nel held his head gently. She looked up at them for guidance, some assurance that he'd be fine.

Captain Zaraki stepped forward, and nudged the fallen shinigami in the side with his foot.

"Get up!" he roared. "You're not dyin' yet! You owe me a fight, Ushii!"

There was no response, and Zaraki actually _kicked_ him.

"Ain't no room for sissies in my division! Now, _get up_!" he bellowed threateningly. The only response was a groan from the unconscious man.

"Stop it!" cried Nel, stunned that even Zaraki could be so callous.

The captain ignored her, kicking Anrak slightly harder this time.

"I gave you an _order_, Ushii!"

No one missed it when Nel moved her right hand away from Anrak's head and back towards the hilt of her zanpaktou as she glared up at Zaraki.

"Don't touch him again." she warned, a surprising amount of malice in her tone.

"Or _what_, girl?" Zaraki challenged.

Before she could answer, Captain Kyōraku stepped forward and placed a hand on Zaraki's shoulder, steering the larger man away and giving a disarming grin.

"Come on, Captain; let's go search the ruins for leftovers and leave the kids alone. If we can find a bottle of sake out here, I'll buy you a drink!" he said cheerfully. Zaraki growled and glanced back at the fallen Soul Reaper again, but allowed himself to be led away.

Nel relaxed as Zaraki left, giving a sigh of relief that the crazed captain was gone.

"That's just his way of showing concern." said Renji. "You'd have to have served under him to recognize it."

No one else looked convinced of his words, least of all Neliel.

"Nel, what about that thing you did in Hueco Mundo? You know, with the goo?" asked Ichigo, peering at Anrak's wounds.

"Oh! I'd forgotten about that!" exclaimed the arrancar, her expression brightening slightly. With that, she sat up straight and the muscles in her face began to visibly work underneath the skin, and in no time, she had the appearance of someone needing to belch.

…and then she leaned over and puked on Anrak.

"What the hell are you _doing_?" shouted Renji. "That's disgusting!"

"It has some weak healing properties…" Ichigo explained as Nel began to rub the clear, sticky substance into Anrak's wounds. "It's not much, but it's better than nothing."

As they watched, the bleeding began to slow, almost coming to a complete stop as she rubbed more of the viscous liquid into his wounds.

"It's not enough…" murmured Hitsugaya, "He needs medical treatment, but he's in no shape to be moved right now."

He knelt down beside the prone form of Anrak and held his palms towards the fallen reaper, a soft green glow emanating from his hands.

"Healing kidō isn't exactly my specialty, but given that no one here is from Squad 4, I'm probably the most-qualified to attempt it… I _should _be able to stabilize him enough for transport back to the Seireitei."

"We don't have a wagon to transport him…" observed Renji.

"Then one of you will have to _carry_ him back." said Hitsugaya curtly, as if it should have been obvious.

"I can do it." offered Ichigo. "I've probably got the most energy left, and I'm the fastest here."

"No, you're not." countered Nel softly. "You might have more energy, but you're not the fastest."

Ichigo opened his mouth to argue the point before recalling seeing Nel in action, and he decided that yes, her sonido did indeed surpass his own shunpo.

"Do you have enough left to make it back? If you don't-"

"I don't have a choice." she said abruptly, cutting Ichigo off.

Hitsugaya exhaled slowly and put his hands down, the glow fading from them, and he favored Nel with a nod to indicate that he had done all he could to save Anrak. Without another word, Nel scooped up her injured friend in her arms and took off, vanishing in an instant.

Kyōraku glanced backwards just in time to see Neliel run off with Anrak, and he gave a small tip of his hat in their direction.

"Godspeed, you two…"

Kenpachi's eyes followed their departure as well, and he simply snorted at the other captain.

"Feh, he'll be fine; he ain't one of your Squad 8 pansies."

* * *

Neliel was given a new appreciation for the wounded man in her arms as she ran, pouring every last ounce of her energy into her sonido. For him to have used flash-step the entire way from the Seireitei to the battle and still had anything left in him to fight with…it was hard to believe, to say the least. She was almost at the halfway point, and already her muscles were screaming at her to stop.

But then again, she mused, she was carrying an added weight.

"Maybe when you get better, you can run around with me on your back…" she quipped lightly, hoping he'd wake up and give some kind of response.

The shinigami in her arms remained silent, and glancing down at him, Neliel could see the blood had begun to flow once more.

An image flashed through her head of her child-self being pulled away from Pesche and Dondochakka's broken corpses as they'd been fleeing Hueco Mundo in the wake of Aizen's death.

"I've already lost my brothers to this war…don't _you_ leave me, too." she pleaded.

There was no response, and Nel could feel hot tears running down her cheeks as she sped through the Rukon.

Conventional logic said that hollows didn't have hearts, but at that moment, Nel could have sworn that something in her chest was breaking.

* * *

Back at the battlefield, Renji and Ichigo were preparing to head out themselves and return to the Seireitei, and the duo stood over their fallen friend's zanpaktou, both keenly aware that one of them needed to carry it back with them.

The blade had returned to it's unreleased state with black steel reverting to the silvery-gleam of conventional steel, and the black cord-wrapped hilt returning to it's normal midnight blue. Overall, the sword had regained the look of a normal katana rather than the deadly zanpaktou that it was.

It was Ichigo who decided to pick up the blade and return it to Anrak once he'd recovered. He reached down, extending his hand towards the hilt, and was suddenly interrupted by the voice of his own zanpaktou, _Zangetsu_.

_I wouldn't do that, Ichigo; she's extremely upset and not thinking rationally. She's lost in her own darkness right now._

Wait, _she_? Anrak's zanpaktou was _female_?

That was the only portion of the warning he listened to as he grasped the handle…and abruptly jerked his hand back, yelping as it burnt him. The entire handle was scorching hot, and as Ichigo fanned his hand about in the air, his zanpaktou spoke again.

_I _warned_ you. Kagi's in an extraordinarily foul mood right now._

And in the background over _Zangetsu's_ voice, Ichigo could hear his inner hollow laughing at his misfortune.

_Good job, king! You really are an idiot, you know that? This is why you should let _me_ drive! _it cackled at him.

Ichigo scowled and ignored the creature's mocking voice, glancing at his palm to make sure the flesh hadn't been permanently seared. He was glad to see there was no real damage, but he was less-pleased to notice a large shadow suddenly looming over him.

"You're pathetic, Kurosaki!" Zaraki growled, shoving Ichigo out of the way and reaching down to pick up the sword.

Zaraki's large hand closed around the hilt and he picked it up, managing to hold on to it for a full eight seconds before finally dropping it back to the ground.

"Son of a bitch!" he roared, looking at his burnt palm.

This time Ichigo wanted to laugh along with his inner hollow, but a menacing glare from Kenpachi left him with the feeling that it would be a horribly bad idea.

All eyes then turned towards Renji, who put his hands up defensively.

"Oh, _hell_ no!" he shouted, stepping backwards.

"Renji, you're his best friend; I'm sure it won't reject you as violently." Ichigo reasoned, but Renji shook his head adamantly.

"No freaking way."

"Pick up the damn sword, Abarai!" thundered Zaraki.

Renji winced under the captain's tone, and, not wishing to find out what the unspoken "or else" in the command would be, began to inch his way towards the zanpaktou. What was it's name again? What did Anrak call it? Hagi? Jagi?

_It's_ _Kagi, baka; how do you _not_ know the name of your best friend's zanpaktou?_ said one half of _Zabimaru_ in his head.

_Ah, you can't blame him, Chimpette; he's just as clueless as you are fat!_ came the teasing, childish voice of the second half.

_You little brat!_

_Monkey-butt!_

Renji just rolled his eyes and tuned out the sound of his two spirits bickering amongst themselves, focusing on the other sword that lay on the ground.

"Hey, uh, Kagi… It's Renji, you know, friend of your master? Yeah, I'm just going to pick you up and take you back to him, okay?" he babbled, hoping the zanpaktou would heed his words.

Hesitantly, he reached for the katana and closed his hand around the hilt…

It was warm, almost uncomfortably so, but it didn't burn him, and he gave a sigh of relief as he stood up with the sword in hand.

Ichigo nodded at his friend.

"Let's get going."

"Take the horses Shiro-chan and I came on." offered Kyōraku. "I know you've got to be worn out from the battle, so there's no sense in going on foot or wasting what energy you have left flying. Just have them send a wagon back for the three of us when you arrive."

Hitsugaya scowled at the nickname the other captain referred to him with, but didn't make a move to contradict the offer to take the horses.

"I don't know how to ride a horse…" said Ichigo slowly, but Kyōraku smiled and waved his concerns away.

"Ah, Lieutenant Abarai can show you the ropes; just do as he does." he said dismissively, walking away with the other captains.

Nervously, Ichigo climbed up onto his horse, noticing as he did so that Renji seemed to be having some difficulty doing the same.

"You've never ridden a horse before either, have you?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nope!" Renji grinned. "But how hard can it be?"

With that, he nudged his horse onward, taking off towards the Seireitei in a gallop. Ichigo just covered his face with his palm and groaned.

"Wonderful; I'm supposed to follow the example of an idiot. We're both gonna die."

* * *

Neliel burst into the Squad 4 infirmary, throwing the doors open roughly as she entered. She took another step and collapsed to her knees, crying out for help and panting heavily for air.

The squad 4 lieutenant, Isane Kotetsu, came forward to see what all the noise was about, irritated that someone would be so rude as to shout in a hospital. She gasped when she saw the condition of the shinigami in Neliel's arms, and began calling for a stretcher to take him to emergency surgery.

As they took Anrak away, Neliel forced herself to stand on shakey, exhausted legs, ready to follow her friend into surgery, but Isane put a gentle hand on her shoulder and stopped her.

"I'm sorry, but having you back there will do more harm than good. Please, wait out here and let someone tend to your own wounds for now." she said, handing Nel the blue scabbard she'd removed from Anrak's belt before the medics had wheeled him away.

Neliel took the scabbard and nodded as Isane waved a young-looking shinigami over.

"Seventh-Seat Yamada, will you tend to Miss Nel's wounds for me?" she asked kindly.

The smaller male before them nodded his head, stuttering slightly as he answered.

"O-o-of course, Lieutenant!"

Numbly, Neliel followed the droopy-looking shinigami into a treatment room, casting one more glance over her shoulder just in time to see Lieutenant Kotetsu heading through the doors into surgery.

Treatment didn't take long, and Nel found herself sitting back out in the waiting room, still clad in her bloodied white outfit. She had the blue scabbard in a death grip, thinking in the back of her mind that so long as she had it, he'd come back for it eventually.

She wasn't sure how long she'd sat there before Renji and Ichigo showed up; an hour? Two, maybe?

Renji handed her Anrak's zanpaktou, and as she slid it into it's scabbard, she noticed that her two friends somehow looked worse now than they had when she'd left them.

"What happened to you two?" she asked, wondering if perhaps there had been another hollow attack. Ichigo just scowled.

"Ever been thrown from a galloping horse?" he asked. Neliel blinked up at him, and Ichigo realized just who he was talking to. "…no, of course _you've_ never had that problem… Ever_ fell _while galloping?"

"Once."

"Yeah, so did we." said Ichigo, angrily casting an accusatory glance at Renji.

Renji ignored the orange-haired substitute and sat down beside Nel.

"How is he?" he asked softly.

"I don't know… They've had him in emergency surgery since I arrived." Nel whispered, another tear rolling down her cheek.

The two Soul Reapers looked at one another, then back at her.

"Look, why don't you go back to your quarters and clean up? You'll feel better after you've had a bath and a change of clothes… We'll stay here until you get back, and one of us will come find you if something changes, okay?" offered Ichigo. Nel shook her head.

"I should stay here, in case-"

"He wouldn't want you to sit out here and worry yourself to death." snapped Renji. "He wouldn't want _anyone_ to do that, much less you, and _y_ou know that."

"But-"

"No buts, just go. Take a shower, grab a bite to eat, do whatever you need to do, and we'll keep watch until you get back." added Ichigo.

"He'll be okay, Nel; don't worry." finished Renji softly, giving her his best reassuring smile.

They were right on all accounts, and she knew it. She didn't want to leave, but it really was for the best. She was well aware that her white uniform was now stained a deep crimson and that none of it was actually her blood. She nodded, sighing in defeat as she did so, and left the infirmary…taking Anrak's zanpaktou with her as she went.

* * *

Never before had Kagi lost the ability to speak with Anrak, even when he'd been unconscious. She'd always been able to find him and drag him into her shadow world while his body recovered, but not this time.

She'd searched and searched, scouring the deepest recesses of his heart, soul, and mind, trying to find _him_, that small bit of consciousness that always remained _somewhere_ within him.

Maybe it was because of how perilously close to death Anrak was, but there was nothing this time and Kagi was left alone, stuck within her bleak world with her only concept of the outside world being what she could see through the physical zanpaktou itself.

She'd raged over the feeling of abandonment, raged so hard that she had nearly lost control of herself, and that was unacceptable; she had to be strong now, strong for the both of them.

As Renji was picking up the sword, Kagi had just crushed the last remnant of her weakness in her fist, watching the powdery-white fragments of unrestrained anger and despair dissolve into shadow.

"_I'm_ in control here." she growled to herself, reasserting her dominance over the blackness that surrounded her.

She forced herself to remain calm as the two shinigami rode through the Rukon back to the Seireitei, trying not to focus on her inability to reach Anrak.

The fact that she still existed was proof that he was still alive, and that knowledge would have to suffice for now.

But she was _definitely_ planning on giving him sixteen kinds of hell whenever he recovered.

Kagi wasn't thrilled when Renji had just _given_ the zanpaktou to the arrancar in the infirmary, not at all. Still, she managed to keep her temper in check even as Nel departed the hospital with the blade known as _Kage Shitsukoi_ in tow.

This would be prime time to observe the arrancar, Kagi thought, the perfect time to get proof that Neliel was putting on an act and was planning to destroy the Soul Society from the inside.

She watched as the green-haired wench took a long, slow walk through the Seireitei back to her quarters, watched as she collapsed onto her bed and began to cry her eyes out as soon as she was inside, watched as she went to the bath house and cleaned up…and all the while, the expression of hurt and sorrow never once left her face.

The only proof Kagi found _wasn't_ what she had expected, and definitely wasn't what she had wanted.

"The baka was right…she _does_ have a heart." she murmured.

It was two things she had thought she'd never admit; that Anrak was right, and that Nel wasn't a monster.

She still didn't actually _like_ the arrancar, but suddenly, the creature was much more tolerable.

And at least Nel could cry, which was something Kagi refused to allow herself to do, no matter how distraught she was feeling. Let the arrancar do the crying for the both of them; at least that would make the hollow wench useful in Kagi's opinion.

* * *

It was several hours later when Neliel finally returned to the infirmary in a fresh change of clothes and a bit of food on her stomach. Her eyes were slightly red and puffy from crying, but she had no more tears left at the moment.

Anrak had finally been released from surgery and put into a room, although he still hadn't woken up. True to their word, both Renji and Ichigo were in there when she arrived, and after giving her the update that Lieutenant Kotetsu had given them, they left to go get some rest themselves.

Nel plopped herself down in a chair beside the hospital bed, determined not to move until Anrak woke up and chided her for "being silly" or "worrying too much" or something.

Hours passed, and it was midnight when a flicker movement at the door caught Nel's attention. She'd almost been asleep, but seeing a small dark _thing _dart into the room made her jump in her seat. She tensed, gripping her zanpaktou as she did so…and then sighed in relief as a small black cat jumped up onto the bedside.

"I thought you were a hollow, kitty." she said, smiling softly.

The cat ignored her, instead giving a light "meow" and nudging Anrak with it's own head before sitting back on it's haunches as if waiting for the shinigami to answer.

Nel thought it curious that the cat wore an almost-human look of disappointment on it's face when Anrak failed to respond.

She reached over and began to pet the small creature gently.

"I didn't know An had a pet cat…you must be pretty worried about him, too."

Either she was going crazy or the cat actually nodded, purring as Nel scratched behind it's ear.

"Don't worry…he'll be fine." she whispered, picking the cat up and holding it in her lap. "And we'll both wait right here until he wakes up."

The cat seemed to like that idea as it curled up in her lap and went to sleep. Nel smiled down at it before settling back and making herself comfortable in the chair, yawning.

"Good night, kitty."

She cast one last glance over at the unconscious shinigami before she closed her own eyes.

"Good night, An."


	17. Code 11

**Code 11**

The first thing he could recall being aware of was that he was lying on his back, with his head resting on something soft. The second thing he realized was the absence of pain, and the knowledge that he should probably be in a great deal of it.

Groaning, Anrak forced his eyes open to stare upwards, but his vision was blurry. He blinked a couple of times, trying to get a clearer picture…and he recognized Kagi's face staring down at him.

He wasn't truly awake, not yet; he was in her little shadow world, and his head was resting in her lap, with her fingers brushing his hair gently.

"It's about time you opened your eyes, baka." she chided softly.

He gave her a weak smile and tried to sit up, but she quickly moved her hands to his shoulders and held him in place.

"Take it easy, fool; you've been out for three days."

The concept of being out for three whole days staggered him. Moreover, he wondered how it was that he was just now ending up in Kagi's bleak home; she'd always kept his mind company while his body was out before, so why the delay now?

"I couldn't find you…" she started slowly, clearly aware of his thoughts. "I searched everywhere, but I couldn't find you. You were too far gone, you fool. You almost died on me."

"I'm sorry." he murmured.

"Don't be…it's my fault." Kagi said regretfully, popping his cheek with her palm in a light slap to demonstrate how foolish she found his apology. He waited for her to explain how it was her fault, but she chose not to elaborate.

"You've had plenty of visitors outside here: the pineapple, the strawberry, the midget, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the bimbo from Squad 10-"

"Kagi…" he sighed, slightly irritated at her names for his friends.

"Renji, Ichigo, Rukia, Takk and Satsu, Rangiku…" she clarified, "Enjeru, Captain Kyōraku, and Zaraki. Takk, Satsu, and Enjeru have been by a couple of times, and Renji's been by every eight hours or so; the nurses are pretty sick of him by now."

Anrak grinned slightly, having no trouble imagining his friend being a nuisance to the nurses and pestering them with questions. His grin faded as he realized there were a couple of names missing from that list. Yoruichi, he could understand, as she was probably still in the world of the living, but the other…

"What about Nel?" he asked softly.

"Once…" said Kagi looking away, her face unreadable.

"…she's only come to see me once?" Anrak asked slowly, feeling strangely hurt.

"I mean she's only left your side _once_ in the past three days." Kagi spat in annoyance. "They wouldn't let her follow you into surgery, and after you came out, she refused to leave you alone."

"…oh."

"That silly arrancar has worried herself sick over you, and all of her crying has made _me_ sick." Kagi growled, though her voice was lacking a lot of the venom it usually held when speaking of Neliel, and Anrak noticed that.

"I told you she was a good person." he jabbed, unable to resist.

Kagi scowled down at him.

"She's _not_ a person, baka, she's a hollow." she snapped. "But…she _does_ seem to care about you, and I can cut her a little slack because of that common ground."

Anrak grinned up at her, and Kagi's scowl deepened.

"I still don't _like_ her; I'm just going to try and be more…tolerant." she added.

"That's about all I can ask for."

"Good, because that's all you're going to get, moron." was Kagi's slightly haughty reply. Anrak just shook his head and sat up, this time without Kagi interfering.

"The battle…did we win?" he asked slowly.

"Well, you're not dead, are you?"

"Aren't I? Isn't this Hell?" he quipped.

Kagi growled at his comment, but finally answered his earlier question.

"We killed five of them, and helped turn the battle in the Seireitei's favor. The surviving arrancar retreated when Hitsugaya and Kyōraku showed up." she said.

Anrak nodded, hazy images of the battle slowly coming back to him as Kagi spoke.

"We surprised everyone…I imagine you're the talk of the Seireitei at the moment." she added smiling softly with pride.

He sat there for a minute, letting those words sink in: his secret was out, he didn't have to hide anymore, and everyone knew that they'd misjudged him.

That knowledge felt good, and made him feel all the stronger.

But still, something bothered him.

"Kagi, about what you said earlier…how was it your fault?" he asked.

She flinched visibly under the question, and instead of answering directly, she leaned forward, placing her face inches from his.

"It doesn't matter now; I won't make that mistake again." she said softly, kissing him on the forehead gently as if to seal the promise. "Now go…don't keep that ditzy arrancar waiting any longer."

With that, she gave him a light shove, sending him falling onto his back…

* * *

He opened his eyes with a gasp for air, and again found his vision to be blurry…although this time, he could see that he was in a much more brightly-lit place. Again his head was resting on something soft, and he recognized it to be a genuine pillow by the feel of it.

And out here, in the real world, he _could_ feel pain. His entire body ached, and he groaned from the misery.

"You're awake!" exclaimed a voice off to the side, and he could feel someone squeezing his hand gently.

A colored blob moved itself into his line of vision, hovering overhead. He blinked a couple of times to get a better focus on the _thing_ that was filling his vision, and gradually, he was able to make out the features of a familiar face: a horizontal crimson line directly underneath a pair of light-colored gentle eyes, long, green hair, and a white skull-like mask perched on the top of the head…

"Neliel." he croaked, his voice hoarse.

The woman gave him a slight nod, smiling affectionately down at him.

"You had us worried…I thought…I mean, _we_ thought that…" she started, but trailed off as he squeezed her hand in reply.

He opened his mouth to say something, anything to reassure her that he was fine, but he found words to be a painful challenge.

"Water." he managed to wheeze out finally, his throat positively parched.

Nel quickly grabbed a glass off the windowsill that had probably been her own, and held it to his lips, tilting it just enough to carefully pour the liquid into his dry mouth.

"Better?" she asked, removing the empty glass and putting it back on the windowsill.

"Much… I'm sorry if I worried everyone, Neliel."

Nel _looked_ like she wanted to tell him not to apologize, but the words died on her lips as a deep, male voice cut her off.

"Only _you_ would wake up in a hospital and be more concerned with apologizing to the people around you than with your own health."

Anrak raised his head just enough to identify the owner of the voice; a small, black cat sitting at the foot of his bed.

"A talking cat!" said Nel, amazed. Anrak could only grin at the feline as it made a slow walk up along the edge of the bed.

"Hello, Yoruichi." he greeted the arrival.

Poor Neliel looked absolutely puzzled.

"Yoruichi? But I thought that was your sister's name?"

"It is."

"Your sister is a cat?"

"Sometimes." Anrak said, grinning at her confusion.

"Your sister is a _male_ cat?" Nel asked incredulously.

"She's gender-confused." Anrak quipped. The cat, who was now sitting mere inches from his head, reached out and lightly bopped him on the nose with it's paw.

"Very funny." it remarked dryly.

"I didn't expect to see you here." Anrak said.

"Why not? What, did you think I'd just stay at Kisuke's and wait? As soon as Ichigo returned to the world of the living with the news, I came back to check on you."

"Thank you." he said gratefully, giving a slight nod of his head.

The cat jumped off the bed and into the floor, and with a puff of smoke, assumed it's human form.

It's _naked_ human form.

"Ack! Put some clothes on!" cried Nel, covering her eyes as both Anrak and Yoruichi laughed at her reaction. Anrak had learned a long time ago that if you were going to hang around Yoruichi, you'd better get used to a little nudity, as she was very shameless.

Yoruichi reached under the bed and pulled out a neatly folded stack of clothes that had apparently been tucked away, and began to dress herself. Anrak quietly averted his eyes, though he knew full well his sister didn't care one way or the other.

"Nice tattoo." he commented on the tribal-looking sun on her left thigh. "When did you pick that up?"

"Almost forty years ago, when I was still a rebellious youth." remarked Yoruichi. Anrak didn't have to be looking at her to know that she was smiling, pleased he'd noticed her little piece of artwork.

"Oh, please; the days of your 'rebellious youth' were a _lot_ longer than forty years ago."

Yoruichi reached over and popped him lightly on the forehead.

"I've told you before, it's not nice to pick on a woman's age." she chided playfully. "You can uncover your eyes now." she added, addressing Nel.

Nel carefully peeked between her fingers first to verify that the other woman was indeed dressed now before finally lowering her hands.

"I thought you were a real cat… How do you do that?" she asked in wonder.

"Sorry, can't tell you; Shihōin clan secret." said Yoruichi, wagging her finger with a playful grin on her face. "I can't even reveal it to my dear brother here since we're not actually related by blood."

"Like I'd _want_ to be a mangy, flea-bitten cat, anyway." snorted the bedridden shinigami.

"_I_ get to be a cat because the form is a perfect match for my natural grace and beauty." replied Yoruichi. "_You_ would be a scruffy-looking bull."

Nel giggled at that, and judging by the expression on her face, she was most likely imagining Anrak as an angry bull plowing through a china shop.

The trio kept talking for another two hours, with the two surrogate siblings relentlessly poking fun at one another before Yoruichi took her leave, stating that as long as she was visiting the Seireitei, she absolutely _had_ to go visit Soifon.

Anrak couldn't find it in him to argue with her, because if she _didn't_ visit Soifon, he knew full well that the permanently pissed-off captain would blame him, and Anrak did not want to deal with that.

It wasn't until after Yoruichi left that he noticed a group of items left beside the bed for him. There was a small brown bottle with a crude hand-made label on it that said "The Best Medicine _Ever_," and he raised a questioning eyebrow.

"The lady from Squad 10 brought that for you…Rangiku, I think?" offered Nel, and Anrak grinned ear to ear.

Sake, it could _only_ be sake.

He'd save that for later.

The curious piece of white fabric got his attention next, and Nel unfolded it and held it for his examination. It was a white bed sheet, brand new by the looks of it, with a pair of arm-holes torn out in the center.

"Satsu and Takk brought this in for you, but I don't see why you'd need a ruined sheet for." said a thoroughly confused Nel. Anrak couldn't help but laugh lightly.

"Inside joke, Nel; I'll tell you about it later… What's the card over there?" he asked. She handed him the card in question and began to fold the sheet back up.

"Rukia brought that when she came in with Ichigo and Renji. I think it's kind of cute."

It was a homemade 'Get Well' card, with five bunny-type creatures drawn on it; four bunnies standing around the bed of the fifth.

The first three bunnies wore the black shihakushō of Soul Reapers: one had crazy red hair and weird-looking eyebrows, one had short black hair, and the third one had bright orange hair, a permanent scowl on it's face, and a comically-oversized sword. The fourth rabbit was dressed in an immaculate white outfit, with green hair and an overly-cartoonish skull-like mask on top of it's head. The fifth and final bunny lay in the bed, with brown hair, swirly eyes, stars dancing around it's head, and a bit of drool running out of it's agape mouth.

"It's…interesting." Anrak said weakly.

_It should be a crime for that woman to even _look_ at art supplies!_ suggested Kagi.

Nel took the card from him and placed it back on the table, and sat back down beside the bed.

"You've got a lot of people who care about you…" she observed softly.

"Hai, I'm very lucky. By the way, where's my present from you?" Anrak asked her teasingly. Nel leaned forward enough to touch her mask to his forehead.

"I've sat here with you for three days; I haven't exactly had time to go pick something up." she commented, a wry smile on her lips.

"I'm teasing you anyway, you know."

Nel tilted her head down slightly more, gently brushing her nose against his as she drew her face _much_ closer.

"I know…but I think…I think maybe-"

"Ushii!" bellowed a deep voice from the doorway, interrupting the two.

Nel gave a surprised yelp and jumped back in her seat, and Anrak quickly turned his head away to hide his embarrassment.

Captain Kenpachi Zaraki stood in the doorway, his one-visible eye narrowed in annoyance.

"It's about goddamned time you woke up." growled the captain, entering the room without any regard for the two people already inside. "Three damn days, Ushii… Don't tell me you're going soft!"

Zaraki cast a quick glance over at the arrancar and sneered.

"Get out, girlie; I need to talk to Ushii here." he ordered.

"I'm not leaving _you_ alone with him, not after the other day." Nel spat angrily. "If you touch him, I swear I'll-"

"What business is it of _yours_ how I treat my officers?"

"It's my business because-"

"She's An-chans girlfriend!" sang Lieutenant Yachiru happily, climbing up on Kenpachi's shoulder. Both Anrak and Neliel blushed furiously at the accusation.

"I'm not-" Nel started.

"She's not-" Anrak began.

They looked at one another, each still red in the face, and then simultaneously declared "We're not-"

"_I don't care!_" roared Zaraki, cutting them both off.

The intimidating captain gave Nel his best death glare, the glare that usually made the manliest of men cringe in fear and run screaming for their lives…but still, Nel remained unmoved, instead giving Zaraki the same cold, emotionless stare she wore when in combat.

Zaraki found the dead stare to be creepy beyond words, but he refused to show it, and instead opted to ignore the woman.

"You lied to me, Ushii." he said finally. "_You_ were the so-called 'captain' at the North Gate."

"Hai, captain. I'm sorry."

"Give me _one_ good reason why I shouldn't kick your sorry ass right here and now for holding out on me." demanded Zaraki.

Nel grasped the hilt of her zanpaktou threateningly as she began to rise from her chair, a low growl rumbling in her throat. Anrak held up a hand and motioned for her to calm down, and the growling ceased…but she didn't lower her hand from it's position to draw the deadly blade in a moment's notice.

"I wanted to make an impact, captain. Ever since I joined the Gotei 13, I've been looked down on as being _weak_ and _pathetic_. Can you imagine what that feels like?"

Zaraki didn't answer, but they both knew that no, he didn't; Zaraki had always been freakishly strong, and while he had suffered defeat _once_ at the hands of Kurosaki, he'd never once been regarded as weak.

"Even you called me weak, captain." Anrak continued, his voice rising. "I spent the past century volunteering for missions taking me as far away from this place as possible so I could train and get stronger. I wanted to _earn_ some respect. I wanted to make you and everyone else realize that you were _wrong_ about me. I worked for a hundred years with that _one_ goal in mind."

Zaraki remained silent as Anrak continued, venting his feelings.

"It wasn't exactly the reveal I wanted…I wasted too much energy trying to shunpo there…but I think it got the job done. Now you know…now _everyone_ knows." he finished.

The captain stood and stared at him for a long moment, letting the words sink in.

"You're an idiot, Ushii." he said finally. "If I thought you were _that_ weak, I'd have thrown you out of my division a long time ago. But you're right, if that's what you really want to hear; I did think you weren't as strong as most of the others. And if I _hadn't_ called you weak, would you have found the will to improve? I doubt it; you'd still be a _nobody_, the weakest and lowest of the unranked soldiers."

"You expect me to believe that you _knew_ your insults would drive me to this?" Anrak snorted.

"No, I didn't. I thought you'd either suck it up and deal with it, or quit like a little girl." the captain admitted. "You wanted some respect? Congratulations; when we raid Hueco Mundo again in a week, you're going with us this time. Happy?"

"Very." said Anrak truthfully. It was a dangerous mission, but it was one he _knew_ in his heart he was ready for.

"Oh, it gets _better_, Ushii; when we get back, you and me are going to have ourselves a little fight. You wanted to be recognized as being strong? You've got _my_ attention now; when we return, we're going to find out who's _really_ king of the hill." said Zaraki, grinning manically.

Anrak paled; the absolute _last_ thing he wanted to do was fight Kenpachi Zaraki, the most bloodthirsty and savage warrior to ever plague the Soul Society.

_Oh, come on; deep down, you _knew_ it would come to this. Zaraki always has to test himself against the people he deems a worthy challenge._

Kagi was right, and somehow it was strangely comforting.

Zaraki _wanted_ to fight him, and that was the biggest compliment Anrak could have received.

_Let's just hope we live long enough to celebrate it._

Yes, that was another problem; invading Hueco Mundo would be dangerous enough by itself, but Anrak was also keenly aware that Zaraki wasn't looking for a simple sparring match.

It would be a serious fight, and there was a strong possibility that one of them wouldn't survive it.

"Until then, consider yourself the new number four. I'm tired of that prissy Yumichika refusing to take the position because of that 'four is an ugly number' crap of his, and you're the best-suited for it right now." added Zaraki gruffly as he turned and walked out of the room.

"Bye, An-chan! Bye, Greenie!" shouted Yachiru from Kenpachi's shoulder, waving vigorously.

"Greenie?" muttered a confused Neliel, not sounding terribly pleased with the nickname she'd been assigned. She shrugged it off and smiled brightly at Anrak.

"You're Fourth Seat now! Congratulations!" she cheered him.

Anrak grunted, unable to muster any enthusiasm with the prospect of fighting his captain looming over his head. Nel softened her expression and put a comforting hand on his arm.

"You don't have to fight him if you don't want to…"

"Yeah, I do. He won't let it go otherwise."

"Then I can help-"

"No!" he said sharply, cutting her off. Nel withdrew her hand and flinched slightly under his tone, and Anrak sighed.

"I'm sorry, Nel… I just don't want you involved. You do so much fighting as it is, and you _hate_ fighting… Don't worry about it; it won't be for a few weeks, probably, and I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" she asked him softly.

"I promise you, I'll be okay."

"I'll hold you to that." Nel stated firmly as Anrak yawned, suddenly feeling so very, very tired.

_The prospect of impending doom does tend to wear a person out…_ Kagi observed dryly.

Nel's expression softened as she smiled down at her friend and turned off the lights as he started to drift off.

"Sleep well, An."

**

* * *

**

Three days and a slew of visitors later, a much-healthier Anrak was about to go positively stir crazy if he spent another day cooped up in the infirmary, and the decision was made that it was time to break out.

Breaking out of the hospital early was a time-honored tradition of Squad 11 to the point that many years ago, the medics of Squad 4 had developed a code for it when it came time to check on a patient's status; Code 11, patient escape.

Anrak's problem, however, was that he sincerely doubted Nel was going to just let him leave until he was officially discharged by Captain Unohana.

His discharge would probably be in the next day or two, but he couldn't wait around for that; it would be letting the squad down. No one from Squad 11 had failed to escape early in the past two hundred years, and Anrak had no intention of being the one to break that streak.

It took a lot of coercing to get Nel to leave his side for a few hours, assuring her that he'd be fine, and that surely she'd like a nice, hot bath and a nap in her own quarters for a while. She finally relented, although she did look slightly suspicious of Anrak's reasoning.

Still, she gave in and left him alone for a few hours, and Anrak began to plan his grand escape.

Walking out the front door in broad daylight wasn't a viable option; too many nurses on hand to stop him, not to mention Captain Unohana herself.

The solution presented itself in the form of a grinning redhead standing in the doorway with a wheelchair.

No one really paid any attention to them as Renji pushed Anrak towards the front door, commenting on how a brief walk outside in the fresh air would do the wounded shinigami some good. Several of the nurses even commented that it was good of Renji to be so concerned for his injured friend.

Anrak gave weak smiles and pretended to still be feeling hurt and tired, and Renji boisterously declared about how he shouldn't worry, and that he'd be better in no time.

And as soon as they were outside the infirmary doors and noticed that the coast was clear, Renji took off like a shot, using a relatively slow flash-step as he pushed the wheelchair through the Seireitei streets.

"Haha, we'll have you home in _no_ time!" he declared, and Anrak laughed loudly, enjoying the ride. This was _almost_ as fun as the time they had stolen some shopping carts from the human world and held a drunken midnight race through the streets with some of the other Soul Reapers, one man in the cart and one man pushing it.

…except that the race had ended in disaster with the drunken miscreants all taking wrong turns and crashing, including Renji, Ichigo, and Anrak plummeting over the edge of Sōkyoku Hill, with Rangiku peering down over the ledge and giggling drunkenly at them.

But that was then, and this was now, and both men were sober currently, which greatly reduced the chance of injury.

…or at least, that's what Anrak thought until they turned a corner and skidded to a halt a few feet away from a rather irritated-looking green-and-white roadblock.

"What do you two think you're doing?" asked Neliel coolly, arms folded over her chest.

She _really_ didn't look happy…

"Renji, I think we should retreat…" he muttered, but his friend paid him no mind.

"We're breaking out of the hospital!" Renji announced proudly. "You want to help?"

Nel was stalking towards them now, her eyes narrowed and fists clenched, and Renji gulped as he finally realized that no, she didn't want to help.

Pity that realization came too late…

As Nel pushed Anrak's wheelchair back to the infirmary, she hummed contentedly to herself, feeling quite pleased. Anrak glanced up over his shoulder at her nervously.

"You know, you can be really scary when you want to be." he said.

She just smiled sweetly at him.

Internally, Kagi was positively rolling on the ground, clutching her sides in laughter as she shamelessly announced that for once the arrancar had earned her approval.

"I thought you didn't like fighting." he added, looking at the light redness on the knuckles of her right hand.

"One punch hardly qualifies as a fight."

"Poor Renji…"

"Oh, he'll be fine when he wakes up." Nel declared cheerfully as they re-entered the hospital room.

Anrak groaned as he made the transition from the wheelchair back to the bed, though it was more in regret than in pain. He was going to break the squad's two hundred year long tradition, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Even the nurses that came in later in the afternoon seemed surprised that he was still there, and that made him feel even worse.

It was nearly midnight when Nel finally asked him why he seemed so depressed, and he told her the story. She sat and listened through it, and then stared at him hard.

"It's really that important to you?" she asked softly.

"Hai, it is."

Nel pursed her lips for a moment, thinking. Then she got up, peeked out into the hallway, and shut the door.

"What are you doing?" Anrak asked, feeling slightly confused as she opened the window and hopped outside.

"Shh, come on!" Nel whispered fiercely, motioning for him to follow.

Anrak could only grin as he slipped out of bed and climbed over the windowsill, stepping out into the cold night air.

**

* * *

**

It was an hour later when Lieutenant Kotetsu knocked on the door gently as she made her last round for the evening, checking on the patients. Carefully, quietly, she pushed the door open so as to not wake the patient who she thought _might _be sleeping.

Somehow, she couldn't bring herself to feel terribly surprised when she saw an open window and an empty bed.

She looked down at the clipboard in her hands, found Anrak's sheet and scribbled down the patient's current status.

**Patient Condition: Code 11**


	18. Hueco Mundo

**The Second Invasion of Hueco Mundo**

Sand.

Sand as far as the eye could see.

Anrak had known that Hueco Mundo was mostly a desert, but he'd never truly imagined the scale of it. For miles in all directions, there was nothing but sand and a few crystalline trees. Nel had told him that the desert was virtually endless, but he'd never really believed it until now.

The night was eternal here as well, and the black skies were a stark contrast to the nearly white-sands of the ground, and nothing save for the dim glow of a pale moon and a handful of stars illuminated the alien landscape, the light reflecting off the sands making the entire scene much more well-lit than Kagi's little corner of Hell.

It was, in it's own way, strangely beautiful.

And though she didn't actually say it, Anrak could tell that Neliel was glad to be home, at least for a little while. However beautiful she found the Soul Society, Hueco Mundo was where she was "born," so to speak, and it would always be her home.

The immense palace of Los Noches could be seen off in the distance and he knew they were still many, many miles from actually reaching it.

The group had briefly discussed using shunpo to cover the distance, but the idea had been shot down based both on how taxing it was, and that there were at least three individuals in the raiding party that had yet to master flash-step.

Anrak partially understood why the captain had brought Hanatarō Yamada along, as the timid medic had been to Hueco Mundo once before, but he couldn't help but wonder if there wasn't anyone else that could have come instead, someone with more combat training perhaps.

Enjeru was part of the team, having been recommended heavily by Komamura, and the lieutenant had opted to bring another medic from Squad 4 with him, the young Kisutera. She looked like she might have more fight in her than Yamada, and Anrak hoped that to be the case for her own good.

Inwardly, he was angry a bit that Enjeru had also used his rank to bring Satsu and Takk along. While Anrak thought highly of his two friends as individuals, the truth of the matter was that they didn't have the necessary combat experience under their belts for a mission like this, and the last thing he wanted was for them to end up getting killed because of it. Still, they had bravely _requested_ the right to go, eager to prove themselves to the officers...

At least the rest of the team filled him with some confidence.

Captain Zaraki was the de-facto leader of the expedition, and their objective could best be described as "search and destroy."

Truthfully, there was no one better qualified than Zaraki for _that_.

Nel was with them, and as the former _Tres_ Espada she could definitely take care of herself.

Renji had survived the previous invasion of Hueco Mundo, and as such he had been a natural choice for the new team.

Kurosaki's role in defeating Aizen had secured him the right to go, and in truth the teenager was probably the strongest among them.

Finally there was Rukia Kuchiki, who was struggling to keep up with the group as they ran through the desert. Like Renji, she had been part of the original raid on Hueco Mundo, and her performance had earned her the right to go back and finish the job.

Unfortunately, it was not a good time for her.

Just two days ago, her captain, the long-suffering Jūshirō Ukitake, had passed away.

The captain of Squad 13, Ukitake had been ill with tuberculosis for centuries, and his illness combined with the wounds sustained in the battle over the Fake Karakura Town had left him comatose for many weeks.

While almost no one had expected the kind and generous captain to ever recover, his passing was nonetheless a heavy blow to the morale of the Seireitei; there was no one, absolutely no one, who had not liked or respected Ukitake.

Even Zaraki, barbarian that he was, had been very solemn at the funeral, head bowed in quiet respect.

Rukia hadn't slept in the past forty-eight hours as she and the rest of Squad 13 had been too busy trying to organize the funeral and hold things together. Captain Kyōraku had stepped forward shortly before the group's departure and announced that he would look after the division until a new captain was found, as that was how his late friend would have wanted it.

Anrak paused and watched as Ichigo went back for the small, weary shinigami, a look of concern etched on his face instead of the usual scowl.

"Hey, Rukia, you alright?" he asked.

"Not really…" mumbled the petite woman.

"Come on, then; I'll carry you, midget." he said, offering to let her piggyback on him.

"I'm not a midget; you're just freakishly tall." she retorted weakly, but she climbed up on his back regardless, and within moments was sound asleep.

It brought a small smile to Anrak's face to watch the touching scene before him…at least until he felt a pair of eyes looking at his own back.

"Go ahead." he sighed.

That was all it took to encourage Nel to jump on his back and wrap her arms around his neck tightly to hold on. He hooked his own arms down around her legs to help steady her as he ran to catch up with the others.

Rukia had an excuse to be carried in that she was exhausted and needed rest before the coming battle. Nel on the other hand…well, he wasn't quite sure what was going on with her.

"You owe me for carrying you to the hospital." she murmured, nuzzling her head into his neck.

He blushed from the contact, and was suddenly grateful for being at the rear of the pack so that no one else could see his cheeks flush. This was neither the time or the place to pay Nel back carrying his unconscious form back to the Seireitei, but he couldn't bring himself to argue with her, or to tell her to remove herself from his back.

Besides, he found it oddly comforting…though he would be reluctant to ever actually admit it. He supposed it was because it helped take his mind of the impending battle; however ready for the fight he knew himself to be, that didn't mean he wanted to dwell on it.

It was the fight itself that he usually enjoyed, and not so much the anticipation. The thrill and exhilaration of testing one's combat prowess against another, the rush of adrenaline… Yes, he could enjoy a fight, though certainly not to the psychotic extent that his captain did. As far as thinking about the fight beforehand…more often than not, it led him to have doubts as to whether or not the fight was justified.

In this case, the fights would be justified, that much he knew. Still, thinking about them too much would wear him down mentally, make him dull, and that was something that he couldn't allow under the circumstances.

Feeling the weight of Neliel latched onto his back and her warm breath against his neck helped him forget the fights and forget just how dire the situation truly was; it was easy to imagine that there was no war, and it was just the two of them out goofing off together.

Perhaps someday soon, after this was all over, that would truly be the case.

He found that thought quite appealing.

They ran for hours across the sands before finally halting for a short rest for the benefit of the weaker members of the group. Normal running wasn't anywhere near as taxing as shunpo or flight, and the stronger shinigami like Kurosaki, Zaraki, Renji, and Anrak could run for days on end if they really had to, but Yamada, Satsu, and Takk were rapidly reaching their limits, and they collapsed into the sand as soon as break was announced.

As Nel finally climbed down off his back, Anrak decided that while he and the others didn't really _need_ the break, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing, and it would be good to enjoy it while it lasted. He plopped down into the sand and stretched his legs out before him as Nel sat down beside him.

The group sat in silence for a few minutes, savoring the serenity around them until it was unceremoniously shattered by Satsu as he jumped up and cried that something was after him.

The 'something' turned out to be a tiny lizard hollow, only a few inches long, rooting around in the sand. Nel smiled softly and scooped the small creature up for the others to see.

It didn't try and run or fight back as she lifted it; rather, it cocked it's head sideways and looked at her curiously, blinking it's small golden eyes independently of one another, perhaps trying to decide if she meant to do it harm or not.

"Most people think only human souls can become hollows, but that's not always the case; animals from the living world often lose their souls to despair and anger after their death and turn into lesser hollows like this… This poor thing may have been a pet to a neglectful owner before ending up here, and the sadness from it's life doomed the spirit to become what it is now." she said, petting it's head gently. The diminutive creature closed it's eyes and swayed it's tail from side to side, clearly enjoying the attention.

"Hollows born of animals can't evolve like those who were once human…" Nel continued. "This creature will remain a tiny lizard for all of it's days until it is consumed by a larger hollow. Little ones like him sustain themselves by taking in the latent _reishi_ in the air, and they form the lowest link of the food chain in Hueco Mundo… It either doesn't recognize an arrancar as being a hollow, or it knows that arrancars have evolved beyond the normal food chain here, else it would be running from me."

Indeed, the lizard didn't appear to find Nel threatening in the least as it was _still_ shamelessly enjoying being petted.

Renji moved in closer to get a better look at the little hollow.

"Heh, I guess it _is_ kinda cute." he said, reaching his hand forward to stroke it's head gently.

*CHOMP!*

"Get it off, _get it off!_" Renji shouted, jumping to his feet and flailing his arms about wildly, the tiny lizard clinging to the index finger of his right hand by it's teeth.

Ichigo jumped up as well, pulling _Zangetsu_ to come to his friend's aid.

"Hold still!" he declared, "I've got him!"

Renji yanked his arm back to avoid the wild swing and glared at the substitute shinigami angrily.

"Remove the lizard, _not_ my arm!"

"If you'd be still, I can-"

"Use your hands, you dumbass!" Renji yelled, a vein throbbing in his forehead. Ichigo dropped his zanpaktou and grasped the offending lizard and began to pull, trying to pry it's mouth off his friend's finger, but the tiny jaws were remarkably strong and refused to budge.

"Stop it!" Nel cried, rushing forward and knocking Ichigo out of the way. "You're scaring him… Come on, let Renji go… Come on, he doesn't want to hurt you-"

"The hell I don't!"

"Shh…come on, be a good boy…there we go." cooed Nel, finally coaxing the lizard into relinquishing it's death grip on Renji's finger. He scowled and inspected his finger, and was at least happy to note that it was undamaged aside from the ring of teeth imprints that encircled it.

"You just scared him, Renji, that's all." said Nel, petting the little lizard.

"I can't blame it." quipped Enjeru. "Seeing Renji's ugly mug scares me half to death sometimes, too. You have to be slow and kind to small animals, let them get used to you before you just try and touch them… Watch and learn."

With that, Enjeru carefully extended his open palm to the lizard, inviting it to sniff him and understand that he meant it no harm.

"I'm not going to hurt you, little guy. I'm your friend…" he said softly and, after sniffing the offered hand, the tiny hollow allowed him to pet it's masked head gently.

"See, Renji? That's all it takes-"

*CHOMP!*

* * *

They only rested for an hour before resuming their long trek across the desert, and everyone made sure to give Nel a wide berth because of the tiny passenger riding on her shoulder. 'Chompy,' as she had affectionately (and appropriately) named the tiny creature, had been so reluctant to leave when she tried to release it that she simply took it with her.

Nel opted to run on her own rather this time rather than ride on Anrak's back, and the shinigami found himself missing her touch. They ran side by side now, and Anrak made sure to keep an eye on the tiny hollow resting on the woman's shoulder, lest it decide to try and take a bite out of him, too.

So far, it showed no inclination of trying anything, and appeared to be napping peacefully as Nel ran.

"An," Nel began as they raced through the desert, "I've been wondering how you and Ichigo met… I mean, you told me about Renji, but not Ichigo."

Anrak fixed his eyes on the desert ahead of him for a moment before answering, figuring that Nel had asked mostly to put an end to the maddening silence that surrounded the group as they ran.

"Well, Ichigo told you about when Aizen betrayed the Soul Society, right? About Rukia's sham trial and how he invaded the Seireitei with his friends to save her?" he asked her first.

"Yes, he told me all about that… It's hard to believe those two were once enemies."

"Not sure if I'd say they were ever really enemies… Renji was just following orders, and Ichigo didn't give a damn about right or wrong; only saving Rukia. Anyway, I'd been out on extended patrol for most of that incident, and didn't return home until the day after Aizen's departure, before Ichigo and his friends returned to the world of the living. I caught up with Renji later that evening, and as we left to go hit the bar, he decided to go grab Ichigo and drag him along."

"Isn't Ichigo a little young to be drinking?"

"Age limit is different in the Seireitei than the world he comes from; fifteen is essentially a man." said Anrak, scowling slightly as he continued. "I blame Ichigo more for what happened that night than Renji for once."

"Was that the 'shopping cart' incident you told me about?"

"Hai, it was; Ichigo was drunkenly telling us about a show or something from the human world called _Jackass_, and it gave Renji an idea…and none of us were sober enough to realize just how stupid it was at the time."

Neliel laughed and glanced ahead at the other two soul reapers running some distance ahead of her and just behind Zaraki.

"They're a lot alike, aren't they?" she asked, smiling.

"Yeah, unfortunately; one Renji is bad enough, but _two _of them?"

"They're good people, though…we're lucky to know them."

_**I'm luckier to know you…**_ he thought unintentionally, and he could hear Kagi gagging in the background.

"Agreed." he said instead, offering Nel a smile.

"Will you two shut yer yapping'?" snarled Captain Zaraki. "We're here."

Anrak glanced up at the mammoth east wall before them, a wall that was easily thirty meters tall.

"We need to make a door." said Zaraki.

"I can-" started Nel, but she was cut off by Enjeru.

"I can handle this."

"But I can-"

"Don't worry, I've got this."

"You're not listen-"

"Light from the darkness, pierce through the shadows! Call down the thunder and shake the Earth! Hadō 88, Hiryugekizokushintenraiho!" cried Enjeru, releasing a powerful blast of fierce electric kidō that ripped a massive hole in the wall almost four meters wide.

As the Soul Reapers applauded Enjeru's work, Nel simply walked over and placed her hand on another section of the wall, and immediately a doorway opened before her.

The shinigami all stood dumbfounded.

"I tried to tell you…" she explained. "The walls of Los Noches will _always_ open for an arrancar."

With that, she disappeared through the doorway and into the palace beyond it. Anrak shrugged and followed her, while the others simply poured in through the hole Enjeru had blasted open.

As dark as it was outside Los Noches, inside the palace walls it was surprisingly bright and almost cheery with it's blue skies, warm sunlight, and wispy white clouds overhead.

"It's all fake." Nel explained. "Aizen had the dome built over the city when he first moved in, installed the artificial sun and painted the sky… Many of the other arrancar hated it, but I always thought it was beautiful."

"Lovely," said Zaraki dryly, "but this ain't no sight-seeing tour."

Across the sand dunes inside the palace walls were numerous buildings, and numerous strong spiritual pressures could be felt emanating from each of them, but it was hard to pin down who might be the strongest.

Only one spiritual pressure stood out towards the north, and Enjeru looked off towards it's origin.

"He's mine." he announced. "He and I have some unfinished business to attend to."

"All yours…" mumbled Ichigo, looking towards the northwest with Rukia. Clearly, something out there that had grabbed their attention.

"I'm goin' straight through the middle." declared Zaraki.

_**Figures…**_ Anrak thought. Zaraki apparently thought going through the center of the palace would attract the most attention, which would translate to more fighting for him.

More fun, in other words.

"I think we should head southwest…" said Nel, addressing Anrak. "It feels like there's a couple out there to deal with."

"Guess that means I get the south." said Renji, before noticing that it left him with Satsu, Takk, and Hanatarō. "Wait just a minute here, why am _I _on babysitting duty?"

"Don't look at it like that…" said Ichigo, grinning. "Think of yourself more like a den mother."

"I hate you." Renji scowled.

"Alright then, let's rock this place!" declared Satsu, starting southward. Renji grabbed him by the back of his collar and yanked him back square on his ass.

"Hold on, you nitwit; we need to do the charm."

"Charm? What charm?"

"Oh god, not _that_ stupid thing again, Renji." Ichigo groaned.

"Hey!" the redheaded shinigami snapped, "That charm is the reason we made it back in one piece last time!"

"No, it isn't! We-"

"Ichigo, just shut up and do it." growled Rukia.

Kurosaki huffed, but ceased his arguing and gathered around in a circle with the others, minus Zaraki, who also seemed to think it was a waste of time. The group all joined hands in the center of their circle, and as Anrak's hand covered Nel's, he gave it a gentle squeeze.

"As we approach the crucial battlegrounds, believe that our blades will not shatter, believe that our resolve will not weaken; though our paths may diverge, our iron hearts will remain together!" began Renji.

Anrak cast a quick glance off to the side at his captain, standing there impatiently, his arms folded over his chest as he waited for the foolish charm to end…

-wait; was it his imagination, or was Zaraki quietly mouthing the words along with Renji?

It _had _to be his imagination, Anrak figured. There was no way the roughest, toughest captain in the entire Gotei 13 would partake in such a strange and outdated charm ceremony.

"Swear that though the land itself may break asunder, we will come back here alive!" finished Renji finally, and with that as their dismissal, the group broke apart to explore the palace.

* * *

After nearly an hour of wandering, Ichigo and Rukia found themselves outside of a crumbling building that looked as if it had already been home to a major battle.

Yet it was also the location of a pair of strong spiritual pressures, and as such it was doomed to witness another fight. Ichigo doubted the structure would be able to survive another brawl, but the arrancars lurking inside couldn't be ignored.

They entered the darkened building, and the only light available came from the artificial sun outside, shining in through the numerous, large cracks running throughout the structure.

The arrancar were waiting in the center of the building, patiently standing out in the open, waiting. Ichigo recognized the larger of the pair as the one he'd been fighting in the East Rukon, with the remains of his mask framing his face in a distinctive O-pattern. The smaller arrancar's mask appeared to begin just below it's ears before dropped down and encircling it's neck protectively.

"Ready for the final round, shinigami?" asked the big one in it's rough voice. His smaller companion was shamelessly staring at Rukia and licking his lips.

"Oh, I think my younger brother here likes your woman…" the big one continued before Ichigo could answer. Rukia drew her zanpaktou, glaring at the lecherous arrancar as it's big 'brother' continued speaking. "She is somewhat _delectable_… Perhaps after we've killed you, we'll treat ourselves to her."

"Like hell you will!" Ichigo snapped. "_Bankai!_"

* * *

Zaraki wandered alone through the center of the palace grounds, rapping his sword against every building he passed in an attempt to draw some attention, but so far, it had been ineffective. Growling, the menacing captain even removed the eye patch that helped suppress his monstrous reiatsu as a declaration of "here I am, come and get it!"

Nothing.

He'd known there couldn't be too many powerful arrancar left, but surely they weren't all dead already.

Or maybe they were simply scared of him.

How disappointing.

How utterly _pathetic_.

He was just about to shout out a challenge to anything within earshot when he felt the tip of a blade slice into his back.

Zaraki had quick reactions, and the instant he felt contact, he was able to dodge out of the way and avoid a deep and possibly crippling cut. He whirled to face his attacker, a lithe arrancar with a slender sword that clearly favored speed over brute strength.

The arrancar hefted it's blade and tensed itself for another attack.

Zaraki just grinned and beckoned him forward.

* * *

Nel and Anrak looked up at the large building before them, towering some five stories into the air. It was in better condition than most of the battle-worn structures around them almost as if it had been largely ignored in the previous struggles.

"Espada and their fracción lived in the main palace…smaller structures like this were for the lesser arrancar to live in… But the main palace was so badly damaged in the initial invasion that most of these new arrancar have probably been living in places like this…" Nel said.

Anrak nodded in understanding as they entered the building and began a systemic search, room by room, floor by floor.

The first floor was all clear, and like Nel had said, there was evidence that it was being used as a residence.

The second floor appeared empty at first as well; a dozen small rooms were inspected and found to be empty, and then they entered a large, open room that appeared to be a training area, perhaps meant for indoor sparring. At the far end of the room lay a stairwell leading up to the next floor, but there was an arrancar standing in their way.

His hair was black, and the remains of his mask encircled his right eye socket and swept around to the back of his skull. His left eye was a normal green, and his right was a piercing yellow.

"Two playthings for me, yes, yes…" he muttered, cackling. "How wonderful; the king will be pleased, yes, yes."

Nel and Anrak exchanged glances, wondering if perhaps this individual was defective.

Still, defective or not, they could sense that he was quite powerful, and that meant they had to go through him.

"I can take care of this." Nel said quietly. "You head for the stairs and keep searching; I'll catch up when I'm finished here."

Anrak opened his mouth to argue with her, not liking the idea of leaving her to fight alone, but Nel placed a finger to his lips to quiet him.

"Trust me." she said simply, and all he could do was nod.

Anrak took off for the stairs, and the arrancar moved to intercept him. He was quick, but Nel was faster, appearing between Anrak and the strange arrancar in an instant, blocking his attack.

"Go!" Nel shouted. "Leave this to me!"

He had to trust her, he knew that. He knew she would be okay on her own, but instinctually, leaving her to fight alone felt wrong.

Still, he had little choice, and so he made a break for the stairs and ascended to the next floor.

"You've made a terrible mistake, girl, yes you have, yes you have!" said the arrancar, still cackling madly. "I'm strong, strong. I would have been the fifth Espada if I hadn't refused Aizen, yes I would, yes I would! Maybe fourth, maybe fourth…"

Nel may have hated fighting, but all the same, she found herself unable to stop the grin that was slowly spreading across her face.

* * *

"Are we there yet?"

Renji wanted to tell Satsu that if he asked that just _one_ more bloody time, he was going to knock the crap out of him, but a loud 'thwack' told him that Takk had already lost his patience with his younger brother.

"Thank you." Renji sighed.

"Anytime." said Takk coolly.

Their little group had entered a building some time ago, and were now following a long and winding hallway that didn't appear to have an end. It was maddening enough to be stuck inside a corridor that seemed eternal without someone asking "are we there yet" every five minutes.

At long last, they entered a gargantuan room that seemed to expand outward for some thirty meters or more.

Sitting in the center of the room was an arrancar, apparently meditating. He opened his eyes as he sensed the arrival of the shinigami, and grinned broadly.

"Welcome, friends!" he said, giving a toothy grin that suggested he felt they were anything _but_ friends.

Renji wanted to call him on it, but Satsu and Takk stepped forward and drew their zanpaktou, eager to prove themselves.

Takk released his zanpaktou, and the katana shifted into a wicked-looking kusarigama. He spun the weighted chain around threateningly at the arrancar while making sure the blade of the sickle-end could clearly be seen gleaming under the lights.

Satsu released his shikai, and the blade narrowed and lengthened into a long pole, with a curved blade appearing from one end. Stood on it's end, the scythe stood taller than Satsu himself, but that didn't appear to bother the young shinigami; in fact, he seemed rather pleased with himself.

"When did you two jokers learn your shikai release?" asked Renji, afraid of the answer.

"Day before yesterday, but don't worry; we've got this." said Satsu confidently.

Renji just facepalmed and groaned.

"Oh, dear…how threatening…" said the arrancar, standing up and drawing his own zanpaktou. "I suppose I had best do the same. Roar, _Hone Ryū_!"

The ground shook and loose particles of dust began to fall from the ceiling as the arrancar was enveloped in a fierce yellow light that was blinding to look at. His spiritual pressure was rising exponentially, and all the soul reapers had a bad feeling about this.

When the light faded, they all took a step backwards, their eyes wide at the sight of the arrancar in his resurrección form; a giant boney dragon standing nearly eight meters tall on it's hind legs. He raised his long serpentine head and let out a roar that reverberated through the room and shook everyone to their cores.

"Oh…crap." said Satsu weakly.

Renji twitched slightly as he wondered '_why me'_ for what had to be the tenth time since he began this little journey with the three younger shinigami.

"Hanatarō," he said, steeling himself for the battle that was about to start, "go back out the tunnel and wait outside; this is no place for you."

"B-b-but Lieutenant Abarai, what if you all get hurt? What if-"

"Don't worry about us; we'll be fine. Just go outside and wait for us, okay?"

"O-okay!" said Hanatarō weakly before disappearing back into the hallway.

Renji looked back at the menacing arrancar and the two junior shinigami who were looking at him for guidance, and gave an arrogant grin.

"This might actually be fun." he said with bravado, pulling _Zabimaru_ free of it's scabbard. "Bankai!"

* * *

Enjeru and Kisutera paused outside the comparatively medium-sized building sitting off all by it's lonesome. They both knew he waited inside, could feel his familiar spiritual pressure, almost as if he were beckoning them to come.

This wasn't just business for Enjeru; this had become intensely personal, and he found it difficult to try and force those emotions aside; if he allowed the battle to become personal, if he let his opponent get to him, then he had already lost.

Kisutera placed a comforting hand on his shoulder as he took a deep breath and finally managed to calm himself…at least for the moment.

It was time, and they all knew it.

They entered the building, and found the interior to be more like the interior of a building back at the Seireitei than traditional Hueco Mundo architecture, with polished wood floors and soft lighting.

"I do miss the design of the Seireitei, if nothing else…" said a voice coming out from the shadows.

"Raine…" spat Enjeru, enraged at the sight of the traitorous shinigami as he stepped out into the light. Raine even had the audacity to still be wearing his black shihakushō, and that served only to irritate Enjeru further.

Raine had been part of Enjeru's team in Tokyo that had been wiped out, bodies burnt beyond recognition. When Raine had reappeared at the battle of the Seireitei, Enjeru had been happy at first, believing that by some miracle his 'friend' had escaped the slaughter in Tokyo.

That was when Raine tried to kill him and revealed that he had betrayed them all. Loyal to Aizen all along, now he served the new king of Hueco Mundo, and had even snuck back into Soul Society a _second _time during the last major battle, trying to assassinate Captain Unohana during the battle in North Rukon 3.

But Enjeru had been there, and unlike everyone else present, he recognized the traitor's face and had stopped him from running Unohana through, forcing Raine to retreat back to Hueco Mundo.

"The last time we fought," Raine began, "I was new to my power. I didn't understand it, couldn't truly control it… Things have changed, Enjeru Masamune; I've learned to embrace it, to be one with it. I have mastered it now." he said, spitting Enjeru's last name out angrily as he'd said it.

Raine placed his hand over his face, and as he pulled it away, a hollow mask appeared.

"What hope do you have, Masamune?" he hissed. "I am _more_ than a hollow and _more_ than a soul reaper; I am a superior being!"

Enjeru just shook his head sadly.

"You're wrong… You're _less_ than a hollow and _less_ than a soul reaper; you're just a failure twice over. What hope do you have against a _true_ shinigami?"

Raine's answer was a roar of hatred punctuated with a cero.

* * *

The third and fourth floors had been empty save for a couple of lesser hollows poking around the abandoned quarters on the fourth floor. Anrak could still sense a powerful presence somewhere in the building, and the only place left to search was the fifth and final floor.

As he came up the final set of stairs and burst out onto the fifth floor, he realized that it would be a short search.

Very short.

The fifth floor was one room, one massive room composed of what appeared to be black marble stretching from one end to the other.

The only light came from a massive window on the north side, and Anrak could see a silhouette standing against the light, peering outside.

"It certainly took you long enough…" spoke the arrancar, almost conversationally. "Your recovery took longer than I expected, Ushii."

He knew Anrak's name? What the hell was going on?

"Have we met before?" asked Anrak cautiously.

"If we had, you'd already be dead… No, I simply made it a point to find out all I could about you and Lieutenant Masamune before you arrived in Hueco Mundo."

The figure turned around to face Anrak finally, giving the shinigami a better view of his foe; a creature with dark blue hair, molten orange eyes, with the fragments of his mask running along his jaw line.

"You see, Aizen had notes on everyone of importance from the Soul Society and the world of the living…extensive files on their strengths, weaknesses, and general behavior. He used these notes in his strategies and planning, and while he was ultimately defeated, his notes were still a viable source of information. When I assumed control after his death, I used his notes along with what was learned from that final battle, and organized my plan to assault the Seireitei. When I learned that Zaraki, Abarai, Kurosaki, and the traitorous ex-Espada Neliel were at the East Gate, I dispatched just enough soldiers to overwhelm them."

Anrak was pretty sure he could see where this was going now, and fought hard to keep from smiling at the knowledge that he had been the one to screw up those plans.

"Once one of them had been overwhelmed, the fight would become more and more lopsided in our favor until they were _all_ dead. Zaraki's little team was too far away from the Seireitei for reinforcements to reach them in time… But I didn't plan on someone being fool enough to waste most of their energy to shunpo there in the space of a few minutes, least of all someone with your strength… Aizen had no notes on you or your friend Masamune; you two were, somehow, beneath his notice. Your existence destroyed _everything_!"

The arrancar's voice was rising now, and Anrak tensed, preparing to draw _Kage Shitsukoi_ from her scabbard in a moment's notice.

"You ruined my plans in East Rukon, and Masamune ruined them for the North! Raine was supposed to assassinate Captain Unohana from behind during that battle, but no, Masamune had to be there to stop him! You two have been nothing but thorns in my side from the onset of this war!"

"It's over now." Anrak said with an edge of finality in his voice. "It all ends today. You can't win anymore, and you know it."

To his surprise, the arrancar nodded in agreement, sighing heavily.

"Our losses during those two battles ensured our defeat, you are right there… We will die here, but we will not go alone. Many of your friends will go with us. _You_ will certainly die here. Your captain may finish me, or perhaps Kurosaki will, or maybe even that green-haired whore that seems to cling to you…but rest assured, _you_ will die."

Anrak snorted defiantly.

"You talk a lot, but talk is cheap; if you have anything important to say, say it with your blade."

"You're right, shinigami. Cleave, _Hoja Doble!_"

Anrak shielded his eyes from the orange glow that filled the room as the arrancar released his zanpaktou and assumed his resurrección form. When he lowered his hand, Anrak could see that his foe was covered in boney plates, not terribly dissimilar from his own armor, sans that he actually _did_ have a helmet with a T-shaped cut for the face.

The major difference came in the weaponry, as the arrancar still had a weapon, even in his released form; a large double-edged broadsword with a massive blood groove down the center. The twin edges ran up just past the end of the blood groove, giving the sword twin tips at the end instead of the usual one.

And the arrogant bastard actually had boney tips ringing his helmet like a crown. Kagi began to sing mockingly as they noticed the 'crown.'

_Kill the King!  
__The King is dead.  
__I am the King.  
__Long live the King!_

_**Cute.**_

"Speechless, shinigami?" sneered the arrancar.

"I can think of one word." Anrak replied easily.

"Oh? What's that?"

"_Bankai!_"


	19. Kagi's Secret

**Kagi's Secret**

As he kicked the arrancar clear across the room, Anrak felt pretty confident in his chances; so far, they seemed evenly matched in terms of abilities, but he felt that his own drive to succeed would be the deciding factor.

Both of them had sustained some hits, and both of their respective armors were holding up with only moderate cuts marring the surfaces.

At least, that's what Anrak thought until a small sliver of black steel fell from his shoulder.

He took a moment to examine himself more carefully as his foe got to his feet, noting that the cuts in his own armor were far deeper than originally thought; nothing had pierced flesh yet, but many of the arrancar's blows were steadily slicing through the black steel.

_Then don't get hit anymore, baka!_

Anrak narrowly brought his twin swords up to block a strike aimed for his face, realizing he'd taken his mind away from the arrancar for far too long.

_**Easier said than done!**_

But the blood grooves on his twin swords were glowing red now, indicating Kagi's wrath had reached it's boiling point. Anrak brought his offhand blade down overhead, but the arrancar wasn't stupid, and dodged rather than attempt to block it, and the strike spent it's black rage and deadly fire upon the ground, tearing downward through the previous floors.

But now the arrancar was in prime position to be hit with the main hand sword, and Anrak allowed himself a tight grin as he came in with a side strike-

-and took a devastating kick to his midsection that sent him flying backwards before the blade ever had a chance to hit the arrancar.

He hit the far wall hard enough to be sent through it, plummeting down five stories into the sand below, with the energized sword striking the sand as well.

A burst of explosive black fire intensified the crater his body had already made, superheating globules of sand into tiny glass shards that went flying about, including a couple the tore into his scalp.

Anrak groaned as he rolled over onto his stomach, pushing himself up to his knees and spitting out a mouthful of blood and sand. The armor had, thankfully, held together and absorbed the bulk of the impact.

But that didn't mean it hadn't hurt like hell.

He dropped the offhand blade momentarily to dig out the tiny pieces of glass in his forehead and cheek.

Laughter floated down from above, and Anrak grasped his offhand blade once more and glanced skyward at the arrancar, standing on air far above him. The shinigami growled, realizing that his foe probably wasn't going to come down, and that meant he'd have to go up.

Harnessing spiritual energy to fly was a relatively basic technique that all seated officers could do, but Anrak _hated_ it.

It wasn't so much that he was afraid of heights; he'd sat perched on the roofs of skyscrapers in the human world all day long before. No, what bothered him was the concept of looking down and not seeing something solid beneath his feet.

It was unnerving, but right now it was also necessary.

Gathering his spiritual energy beneath his feet and mentally cursing the entire time, Anrak began to rise in the air to meet the arrancar head on.

_It's easy; just don't look down._

He looked down.

Oh, _crap_!

He nearly lost his focus, but managed to keep it together at the last moment, shutting his eyes tightly.

_Look up, fool! Look up!_

Anrak opened his eyes and glanced upwards, just in time to see a fist colliding with his face…

* * *

Nel realized that she hadn't even needed to draw her sword as she effortlessly batted away strike after strike from the seemingly-defective black-haired arrancar before her. True to his word, his strength was comparable to the late Nnoitra, but the strength of a Fifth-level Espada meant little to the former Third.

"You're strong, girlie, strong, strong, yes, yes!" said the crazed arrancar, _still_ cackling madly as if he didn't quite comprehend the situation entirely. "You even dress like one of us…why? Why, why? Where you get that?"

She had finally managed to fight off the smile that had played across her lips earlier and now wore her usual stoic battle expression, though Nel was quite aware that her face expressed the surprise she felt at the strange arrancar's question.

"It's not my original…" she said, "It was destroyed long ago. My friend Uryū made this for me, though; he's quite skilled."

"It's fake, then! Fake, fake, you are fake! You are _not _one of us! No, no, you are not!" he shouted, raising his blade. "I will end this now, yes I will, yes I will! Laugh, _Hiena Maestro_!"

A wall of black fire ripped down through the ceiling, cutting off her view of the deranged arrancar as he released his zanpaktou. The flames finally cleared to reveal the arrancar in his resurrección form; a hulking, black-furred beast that stood on it's hind legs, sharp claws and sharper-looking teeth, and a slight hunch in the shoulders.

"You die now, yes you do, yes you do!"

_He looks like a hyena…_ Nel thought.

Well, it certainly explained the maddening laughter, she supposed. Maybe-

-her train of through came to a screeching halt as the beast cleared the distance between them in the blink of an eye and slammed a huge, hairy fist into her gut, sending her tumbling backwards across the ground before coming to a rest against the far wall.

Nel coughed and spit up a bit of blood, realizing that she could no longer take this foe lightly. His new form had made him much more powerful, and her only hope of survival now lay in releasing her own zanpaktou.

She got to her feet and held the blade out, preparing to assume her own resurrección form and put an end to this battle once and for all, but a furry paw easily knocked the zanpaktou out of her hand and sent it skittering across the hard stone floor.

Before she even had time to react, the beast's other paw seized Nel by the throat and slammed her against the wall hard, holding her at his eye level, leaving her feet dangling several inches above the ground. The arrancar grinned madly at her.

"See, girl? I'm strong! Strong, strong, _strong_! You die now, yes, yes, you die now!"

* * *

School had just let out in the world of the living, and as he exited the High School, a certain young Quincy sneezed violently.

"Ooh, sounds like four eyes is coming down with the flu!" teased Keigo Asano. Uryū Ishida simply scowled at the annoying teen as he adjusted his glasses.

"Highly unlikely, Asano; I think I'm just allergic to idiots."

"Or maybe a pretty girl is talking about him!" chirped Orihime cheerfully. The group went silent for a moment as Ishida blushed before Keigo burst out laughing obnoxiously.

"Yeah, right! Like _that_ would ever happen!"

* * *

It was a stalemate, just like their previous battle; neither Kurosaki or the large, muscular arrancar before him seemed able to gain a decisive advantage.

Unless one were to count the fact that Ichigo was trying his best to keep the second, smaller arrancar away from Rukia.

He didn't doubt her strength or her ability to take the lesser creature on her own, but the way it kept staring lecherously at her left a bad taste in Ichigo's mouth, and he couldn't stand the idea of the filthy beast touching his Rukia.

His Rukia…

Jesus, if she knew that he had allowed such a statement to flutter through his head, she'd probably punch his teeth out, not to mention what her brother Byakuya would do when he found out about it…

Ichigo scowled underneath his hollow mask as he thought of the aristocratic and arrogant captain of Squad 6, Rukia's brother, Byakuya Kuchiki. Stupid, prissy noble son of a-

"OW! Damn it, Rukia, what the hell was _that_ for?" he demanded, rubbing his shin.

"Stop interfering with my battle!" she growled angrily. "I can handle this guy. _You_ just take care of the big stupid one."

"Stop telling me how to do my job!" Ichigo snapped.

"I'll stop telling you how to do your job when you start doing it _right_!" retorted the smaller shinigami, shaking a tiny fist at him.

"Why you little-" Ichigo began, but was cut off as the larger arrancar tackled him roughly, and the two of them went tumbling across the floor.

Rukia smirked, not terribly concerned with Ichigo and his fight; he might be an idiot, but he was a strong idiot. Now, back to dealing with the small arrancar…wait, where was he?

A pair of arms encircled her tightly from behind, trapping her own arms to her sides as a rough tongue licked at her earlobe.

"Hello, my sweet…" hissed the second arrancar. "Ready for our little date?"

Rukia jerked her head backwards and felt it collide with the arrancar's nose, shattering it. He released her and stumbled backwards, holding his bleeding nose.

"You little bitch!" he roared angrily, "You'll pay for that!"

Rukia simply glared at him and began to slowly turn her zanpaktou counter-clockwise in front of her.

"You wanted a date? How about a dance?" she asked. "Dance, _Sode no Shirayuki_!"

* * *

Anrak forced his nerves to remain steady as he looked at the ground far below and the arrancar that was slowly digging himself out of a sandy crater. The sucker punch from earlier had nearly sent Anrak back to the ground, but he'd managed to catch himself and regain control of the spiritual pressure beneath his feet, flying back up to do battle with his orange-eyed nemesis.

And now it was the arrancar picking himself up off the ground.

_Fitting for a worm like him to be crawling around in the dirt beneath us, isn't it?_

_**Stop that; we haven't won yet.**_

Indeed, the arrancar was more powerful than Anrak had initially given him credit for, and his battered armor was proof of that. The right shoulder and bicep armor had been completely cut away now, though fortunately his arm was still in good condition to fight. There were several deep cuts and cracks in the breastplate, though, and that was worrisome.

At least he'd managed to shatter the arrancar's helmet in their last exchange…

Anrak spit out a mouthful of blood and a tooth that had come loose, letting gravity pull it back down to the ground some hundred feet below as the arrancar finally got back to his feet and glared daggers up at the shinigami.

_Unohana can fix the tooth later, anyway!_

His zanpaktou and it's dark twin had the familiar red glow again, and this time Anrak wanted to make sure he connected.

A distraction should do the job.

"Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle! Hadō 63, Raikōhō!" he cried, channeling the fierce yellow lightening bolt of the kidō spell through his offhand blade, letting the explosive energy from the blade seep into the spell itself.

He saw the arrancar's eyes go wide with the realization of what was coming, and move at the last second, using his _sonido_ to move to the side as the kidō bolt hit the sand where he had been standing with devastating force, leaving a massive fiery crater thirty meters across crackling with the electric remnants of the spell.

The arrancar had moved right underneath Anrak, and his eyes were still focused on the spectacle of the crater which was still simmering with black flame and a dash of yellow electricity.

Perfect.

Anrak roared as he began his descent, intent on finishing the arrancar once and for all the with rage still stored within his main hand blade, the true _Kage Shitsukoi_.

That was when he noticed the arrancar charging a _cero_ blast, aimed directly up. It fired, and Anrak moved his swords in front of him to absorb the impact, and as the cero collided with his zanpaktou, the pent-up energy of the blade was again released.

The black fire was potent and it ripped the cero apart effortlessly, literally disintegrating it harmlessly in front of the Soul Reaper while leaving him unharmed.

"Kuso…" Anrak swore, upset at losing his advantage yet again.

He felt a hand close around his ankle in his distraction, and looked back down just in time to see the arrancar flash a feral grin and sling Anrak down into the massive crater created by his own kidō spell moments earlier.

The black fire and yellow electricity had died down finally, not that his own black fire would have hurt him much to begin with.

That was the "good" news.

The bad news was that the crater was now filled with glass.

Knowing he didn't have the time to recover his ability to fly before he hit the ground, Anrak opted to draw his legs up to his body, and tuck his head down, using his arms to try and shield himself as he hit the ground hard.

The gamble worked, sparing his head, though he felt numerous shards pierce into his exposed bicep and shoulder.

He grimaced as he stood up, flexing his arm, testing it.

There was pain, of course, but nothing severe enough to keep him from using the arm.

He felt several small chunks of black steel fall away from his chest and back as the armor was reaching it's limits. Still, most of his body was protected, and so the fight wasn't over yet.

Anrak wiped the blood from a busted lip away with the back of his hand and began to fly towards his enemy once more…

* * *

A hundred cuts from a hundred sword strikes were bleeding, coating his body and tattered haori a dark crimson color. Zaraki didn't think the little bastard before him was particularly tough, but he was very, very fast.

His own reflexes were fast enough to save him from taking a deep and potentially fatal blow for now, but in a battle of speed, the captain was well-aware that his luck wouldn't hold out forever.

The arrancar came in for blow number one hundred and one, and Zaraki did the first thing that popped into mind.

He didn't have great control over his spiritual pressure by any means, but he used what little he _did_ have to concentrate it's full, monstrous power on the arrancar. The sheer weight of his pressure could kill lesser hollows and shinigami, and while it wouldn't do much to the arrancar, it might slow him down oh-so-slightly.

And there it was; the arrancar hesitated a fraction of a second, giving Zaraki just the shot he wanted.

He dodged the arrancar's strike entirely this time, slicing deep into it's leg as he moved.

"Let's see you dance around now!" Zaraki grinned psychotically.

The arrancar howled in pain and clutched at it's leg, eyeing the Soul Reaper with raw hatred.

Zaraki just held his arms out wide, inviting the beast to take it's best shot.

* * *

Renji picked himself up off the floor, shaking his head to clear the ringing in his ears. Satsu lay at his feet, also dazed and out of it, and Renji reached down and hauled the younger shinigami to his feet.

"No more reckless charging!" admonished the redhead, resisting the urge to strangle him. "You could have gotten us _both_ killed!"

"I could use some help over here!" cried out Takk. The other two shinigami looked up to see the green-eyed reaper standing on top of the arrancar-dragon's head, the chain of his kusarigama wrapped tightly around it's jaws to keep them shut.

The massive draconic beast thrashed about wildly, trying to dislodge the nuisance on his head, but Takk held his ground firmly.

"This chain won't hold forever…_do something_!" he yelled, but it was too late; the chain snapped and the dragon roared, flinging Takk to the ground roughly. It looked down at the shinigami and raised a massive foot into the air, preparing to squish Takk like a bug.

The foot came down and was mere inches from ending Takk's life when the great bone serpent that was _Zabimaru's_ bankai form slammed into the dragon from the side, driving the beast into a wall roughly.

Takk took the opportunity to pick himself up and run over to stand with his brother and Renji as the dragon began to force _Zabimaru_ back with raw strength.

Rather than engage the dragon in a battle of power, Renji opted to pull _Zabimaru_ back just a bit before sending it rushing forward again, encircling the dragon and trying to squeeze it to death inside it's boney coils.

The draconic arrancar roared, momentarily ensnared in _Zabimaru's_ grip, but it was a powerful creature, and Renji wasn't sure that he could hold it's body in place for much longer than Takk had held it's massive jaws shut.

They needed a plan, and they needed it fast. Maybe if-

-oh, no, not again!

Satsu was rapidly climbing up the coils of _Zabimaru_, going for the dragon's head in yet _another_ reckless attack. He narrowly avoided snapping jaws as he reached the top, dodging to the side as they came perilously close to biting him in half, and then leaping on top of the dragon's skull. With a confident grin, he pulled his massive scythe-like zanpakou from it's spot slung across his back and hefted it as if it were an ax.

"Try this!" he yelled, bringing the scythe down and cleaving the dragon in it's left eye.

It roared in rage and pain, and with a surge of adrenaline, managed to break free of _Zabimaru's_ grasp, sending the giant links of bone flying about at the line of spirit energy that held them together was momentarily broken.

Renji and Takk ducked to avoid one of the flying bone links, glancing back up just in time to see that the dragon now held Satsu it's hands and was raising the struggling Soul Reaper towards it's massive, toothy jaws…

* * *

Anrak had managed to tear off a couple of tiny pieces of his opponents armor, but nothing substantial. His own black armor, however, was failing.

He panted as another piece broke off, this time from the left side of his breastplate. Already the left shoulder was exposed, as was his entire right shoulder and arm, save for his hand. He felt air on his left knee now, which told him that the leg armor was breaking as well.

"Do you understand now, shinigami?" asked the arrancar. "You were strong enough to disrupt my plans, but you are _not_ strong enough to destroy me."

Anrak took a small bit of joy in seeing a piece of his opponent's boney armor break off and fall away from his forearm, and smiled grimly, ignoring the words spoken to him.

"Yes, you have done some damage, and one of your stronger friends will finish me. Take comfort in that." said the blue-haired hollow as he pulled his two-handed sword apart to become twin blades of white bone.

The battered Soul Reaper tightened the grip on his own swords as he stared down the arrancar, each waiting to see who would make the first move.

_No guts, no glory!_

Much as it pained Anrak to admit it, Kagi was right. He shunpoed forward a split-second before the arrancar tried to use his own sonido, and the two met in the middle, blade against blade in a furious exchange as they battled for supremacy.

* * *

As the crazed arrancar grinned at her madly, showing Nel every sharp, pointy tooth in his skull-like head, the former _Tres_ Espada quickly considered her options.

Brute strength was out of the equation for now, as the creature's resurrección form easily surpassed Nel's natural strength.

Speed was out, too, what with being pinned to the wall.

She needed to release her own zanpaktou, but it lay several meters away, out of reach.

As the arrancar raised it's other hand back and curled it into a fist, preparing to shatter Nel's skull against the wall like an egg, she realized there was only one option left to her.

Nel opened her mouth, and fired a _bala_ right into her enemy's face.

Balas weren't near as powerful as a cero, but they could be fired much faster without any charging, and they made for a great distraction in a pinch.

The hyena-like arrancar dropped her to the ground roughly as he stumbled backwards, covering his face with his hands and screaming.

"It burns, it burns! Make it stop, make it stop!" he howled.

Nel used her sonido to quickly cover the distance to her zanpaktou, scooping it up in a flash and spinning back around to face her foe as he finally lowered his paws, revealing that what little fur he'd had around his head was now burnt off entirely.

"No more play, girl, no more play! We end now, yes we do, yes we do!"

"Don't worry," Nel said coolly as she held her zanpaktou out before her, "it'll all be over soon. Praise, _Gamuza_!"

* * *

Hanatarō burst out of the long corridor back out into the sandy desert and it's false blue skies above, panting heavily as he collapsed.

He hated the idea of leaving Renji and the others, but what could he do? He was just a seventh-seat, and Renji was a lieutenant, even if they were in different squads; an order had been given, and he was duty-bound to obey it.

"Oh, I hope they'll be okay…" he murmured to himself. Hanatarō wouldn't be any help in the fight, he knew that, but he still felt that he should be there to heal their injuries.

He was a healer at heart, and if anything happened to his friends because he wasn't there to aid them…

"…I'd never forgive myself." Hanatarō finished aloud.

He sighed, slumping forward as he sat in the sand. He had to have faith in his friends, faith in the strength and abilities. It was all he could do for the moment, and he was determined to believe in them all, no matter what the odds.

"They'll be okay, I know it! Renji's gotten a lot stronger lately, and he'll protect Satsu and Takk! And Miss Rukia's always been pretty strong, and she has Ichigo with her! There's no way they can lose! And Captain Zaraki-"

"-well, look what we have here…" sneered a voice from behind as a shadow fell over Hanatarō. The timid healer gulped, hoping by some ironic timing that it was Zaraki himself, maybe responding to hearing his name mentioned. He turned to look and…

…no such luck.

It was an arrancar; a brown-haired, black-eyed creature whose mask remnants covered the left side of his face.

"A Soul Reaper!" it declared, grinning broadly. "And here I thought all the shinigami were already fighting with the others. Looks like I get to have some fun after all!"

Hanatarō paled, realizing that there was no one around to save him this time.

"What do you say, little one? Are you ready to fight?" asked the arrancar, murder in his eyes.

The terrified shinigami scampered backwards in the sand, panicking. He had to find a way out of this, and fast! He wasn't a fighter, he was just a medic! Oh, he really wished he'd stayed with Renji and the others now, orders or no orders!

"Well?" asked the arrancar impatiently, still awaiting an answer to his challenge.

Hanatarō did the only thing he could think of; he flung a handful of sand into the arrancar's eyes and ran like hell.

* * *

Anrak groaned as he pushed himself up to his knees, coughing up a mouthful of thick, red blood as he did so. His chest armor had finally been shattered, and he had taken some serious shots to his exposed body. He was bleeding, externally and internally, and he knew that he was losing this fight.

The arrancar, for his part, was still standing, and aside from the armor on both his arms and his left leg being broken and missing, still seemed in decent shape.

Anrak grasped at the hilt of his offhand sword, pulling it from the sandy crater, noting as he did so that the onyx blade had snapped off during the last exchange, leaving him with only the true _Kage Shitsukoi_ to fight with.

He was tired, and knew this battle couldn't go on for much longer. However much he wanted to win, he wasn't so blind as to not notice that victory was slipping away.

_**Doesn't matter; as long as I can stand, I can fight.**_

Although, he wasn't really sure if he would be able to do either much longer as he stood up, took a step, and then collapsed to a knee once more.

"Do you see it now, Ushii?" asked the arrancar tauntingly. "You have lost. You have _failed_."

"Failed?" Anrak asked, coughing again. "You said it yourself; I ruined all your plans. Even if you kill me, the others will still finish you. From where I'm standing, that's _still _a victory for my side."

The arrancar suddenly vanished and reappeared in front of Anrak, having used his sonido to cover the distance between them, and drove his foot into the shinigami's stomach, kicking him across the rough sand and sharp glass that littered the battlefield.

"The arrogance of you Soul Reapers never ceases to amaze me. You stand on the brink of death, and still you refuse to admit your own shortcomings."

Anrak spat up another mouthful of blood as he struggled to climb back up to a knee.

"We all made a promise to each other that we'd come back alive." he wheezed. "I'm not going to break that promise, even if it kills me."

The arrancar just laughed and shook his head, clearly amused by Anrak's words.

_There is one chance…one hope._ Kagi offered slowly.

_**What? How? Tell me what I have to do!**_

_It's not what you have to do…it's what _I_ have to do._

Anrak blinked, confused by what his zanpaktou was saying. What could she do? Was she holding something back?

_Promise me you won't get mad._

That didn't sound good, both by the wording itself and the hitch in Kagi's voice that indicated she really didn't _want_ to have to do this.

But they were out of options, and they both knew it.

_**Kagi, what do you need to do?**_

She didn't answer, and instead began to sing again.

_What has come over me?  
__What madness taken hold of my heart?  
__To run away, the only answer,  
__Pulling me away,  
__To fall upon the night!  
__The source of my recovery,  
__Sweet shadow taking hold of the light!_

_For saving you from all we've taken,  
__Letting your armor rise again,  
__Giving you the strength to fight!  
__Feeling it taking over now,  
__On a path to take it all away,  
__There can be no other way…_

He wasn't sure what she was getting at, but he noticed the emphasis she placed on there being 'no other way,' and so he made his decision.

_**I won't get mad, Kagi. Do whatever you have to.**_

_In a world beyond controlling,  
__Are you going to deny the savior  
__In front of your eyes?  
__Stare into the night;  
__Power beyond containing!  
__Are you going to remain a slave for  
__The rest of your life?  
__Give into the night!_

As Kagi spoke the final line, Anrak could hear a shift in her voice as it took on an eerie, raspy quality that somehow made his blood run cold.

And yet, even as her voice filled him with fear, he felt his strength returning. He felt…renewed, almost. Shadows enveloped him as the armor reconstituted itself and the broken offhand sword reformed back to it's original, pristine state.

He found the strength to stand once more, grunting as he did so, feeling black heat coming off the armor as it repaired itself.

Anrak wasn't back to full strength, but he wasn't far from it, either.

The arrancar took a step backwards, confusion playing across his face at the Soul Reaper's sudden recovery.

_This self discovery,  
__Redemption taking hold of my mind…  
__A serenade of haunting voices,  
__Calling me away,  
__To feast upon the night!_

The voice…so familiar and yet so distorted…power or no, he wasn't sure he liked it as a shiver ran down his spine. Something wasn't right, something was terribly, terribly wrong…

The arrancar apparently decided that enough was enough as he attacked again, and Anrak found himself able to match his speed and power once more, putting them on equal footing again.

No, that wasn't right. They weren't equal, not now.

He kicked the arrancar in the chest, shattering the bony chest plate under the force of the blow as the arrancar went tumbling back through the sand end over end.

The tide had turned, and Anrak knew he was going to be able to fulfill his promise to his friends.

Still…

As the arrancar tried to sit up, Anrak took a moment to let his conscious mind retreat into Kagi's dark, inner world. He needed answers as to what was going on, and he was intent on getting them one way or another.

It was dark, much darker than usual. The pale full moon, fat and round, that usually provided some lighting for the dreary landscape was almost completely obscured by cloud cover, turning the dark midnight blue of the night sky into an almost pure blackness. Shadows were everywhere, but the spirit was nowhere to be found.

"Kagi?" he called into the darkness. This was wrong, this was bad, and he knew it.

"Why are you in here?" hissed a voice from the darkness behind him. "You need to be out _there_, finishing the fight!"

Anrak whirled to face the voice, and all he could see were two yellow eyes piercing through the blackness to stare back at him.

…but Kagi's eyes had always been blue, hadn't they?

"Kagi, what's wrong? What's going on?" he asked, worried for her.

She hissed again and was suddenly in his face, yellow eyes flashing dangerously and forcing him to take a step back.

"Now is _not _the time, fool! Go, end this!" Kagi all but screamed at him, shoving him backwards and out of her inner sanctum.

Anrak raised his twin blades to parry an attack from the arrancar as his mind re-focused on the real world around him, but he wasn't thinking about the fight right now; his body was on auto-pilot as reflexes and instincts honed from his recent battles matched his foe every strike, blow for blow.

He felt numb, still in shock from his visit to Kagi's home, but he knew he couldn't rely purely on his instincts forever; he had to get his head in the game, or he could still lose.

Steeling himself, Anrak tried to force himself to forget what he had seen and instead focus on the opponent before him.

With determination, he began to force the arrancar back now, slowly but surely overpowering him as the fight went on…but still he couldn't get the image of Kagi out of his mind, couldn't wrap his head around what he'd seen…

Kagi had a hollow mask.


	20. Disclosure

**Disclosure**

He didn't want to admit it, but the midget was doing a good job of holding her own ever since he'd relented and stopped interfering. That wasn't to say Ichigo was exactly happy to let Rukia fight the lecherous arrancar, but the fight had become considerably easier now that he only had his own opponent to worry with.

As a backhand sent him flying back into a wall, he made a mental note that "easy" was a relative term…

But if there was one thing that Ichigo and his inner hollow could agree on, it was that they _really_ didn't like being smacked around by an over-confident foe, and so they rebounded from the wall with fury, driving the arrancar back under a savage battery of attacks.

For Ichigo, it was just another battle that had to be won and there was no real joy in the fight; his inner hollow, on the other hand, was laughing psychotically as they forced the arrancar to back-peddle defensively.

_We've got him now, King! Kill him!_ it cackled.

Scowling at the hollow's order behind his mask, Ichigo raised his zanpaktou for the finishing blow, but the smaller arrancar suddenly came tumbling into view, bowling over his larger brother as they both rolled out of the way.

He growled as he turned to face the two arrancar that were just now getting to their feet, irritated that he'd been interrupted.

"Tsugi no mai, Hakuren!" he heard Rukia cry from the side as a wave a solid ice raced across the ground and encased the two arrancar before they could move again.

"See? I didn't need your help." snorted Rukia as she came up beside him.

But the arrancars weren't dead, and they both knew it; the ice would only hold them for a few seconds before they burst free and resumed the fight.

_Only if we let them! They're trapped! Helpless! Do it now!_

He didn't want to win like that, never like that, no matter how powerful the foe. But this was war, and he couldn't just let them go, could he?

The ice began to crack apart as the two hollows tried to free themselves.

"Ichigo, _do something_!" shouted Rukia.

No, he finally realized, he couldn't just let them free to resume their fight; Ichigo and Rukia had to move on to help their other friends, and they couldn't afford to waste anymore time with these two.

He raised _Zangetsu_ menacingly, and he could see the two arrancars' eyes widen in realization of what was coming.

"_Getsuga Tenshō_!"

* * *

Renji could reassemble the bone links of _Zabimaru_ with his spiritual energy in a few short seconds, he knew that, and he also knew that the helpless Satsu didn't _have_ a few seconds. In the time it would take to reassemble _Zabimaru_, the dragon-like arrancar would have already bitten the struggling shinigami in half, and the last thing Renji wanted was to see a comrade die. Still, all he could do was reform _Zabimaru_ and hope for the best.

Takk wasn't too eager to see his younger brother die either and he rushed forward, hurling the sickle-end of his released zanpaktou at the arrancar's one remaining eye and striking the yellow iris dead center.

The arrancar roared in rage and pain as it dropped Satsu to the ground roughly, and it's thrashing tail struck Takk in the chest and sent him flying back into a wall with enough force to crack the hard stone. The soul reaper slid off the wall and down to the ground limply and his brother lay still a few meters away where he'd been dropped.

If the duo weren't dead already, they would be soon with the way the giant arrancar was thrashing about wildly.

But the great bone serpent of _Zabimaru_ raised it's head now, reformed and ready to fight, and it gave an ear-splitting shriek that announced it's return. The arrancar stopped it's struggling now as it turned towards the sound, blinded eyes searching for the origin.

Renji cracked the serpentine zanpaktou like a whip, and _Zabimaru_ charged in towards the dragon, seizing it's long neck in powerful jaws and slamming it into the wall on the far side of the room. The weakened arrancar struggled against the ever-tightening jaws of the bone-snake, but to no avail.

A loud "snap" resonated throughout the underground chamber as _Zabimaru's_ jaws broke the dragon's neck, ending the fight.

Renji ordered his zanpaktou to release the corpse as he ran to check on the two junior shinigami that lay wounded.

Satsu lay still, gazing up at the ceiling as he coughed up a bit of blood. He grinned when he saw Renji's face hovering overhead.

"Did we win?" he asked.

"Yeah, we won. Are you okay?" asked Renji, and Satsu gave a broad smile.

"I _totally_ kicked his ass. You guys can thank me for saving you any time now." he said, ignoring the question of his condition.

Renji rolled his eyes, and he could hear Takk coughing behind him.

"Don't make me crawl over there and stab you, you moron." he growled, and Renji chuckled. Yeah, they were going to be okay.

"You two idiots rest here, and I'll go find Hanatarō."

* * *

Rondare Onsende was strong, he knew this, yes, yes, he knew this… But for the life of him, he could _not _understand how this green haired horse-lady was beating him. It made _no_ sense, no sense at all! It should be impossible, _impossible!_

He went tumbling backwards across the floor roughly, smashing into the far wall and breaking through it before finally coming to a stop in the harsh sands outside, all courtesy of a single kick from the horse-lady.

This wasn't happening, no, no, _no!_

It took a Herculean effort just to get back to his feet, and all the while his opponent was calmly stepping through the hole, approaching him with that eerie dead stare in her eyes.

Rondare couldn't help himself; he scampered backwards, suddenly feeling terrified of the creature before him. Nothing short of another Espada-level arrancar should be anywhere close to this strong: not a normal hollow, not a human, not a shinigami, _nothing_!

Why, then, was she so dreadfully powerful?

He'd gathered after her sword release that she was indeed an arrancar, but that didn't explain her strength, or why she chose to fight with the soul reapers.

This was madness!

"You're strong, girl, yes you are, yes you are!" he said finally, struggling to keep the fear from his voice. "Who are you, who are you? Why so strong, _why_?"

"I'm sorry…" she began slowly. "Everything happened so fast, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Neliel Tu Odelschvank, former _Tres_ Espada."

Rondare felt his blood run cold; he took great pride in being somewhat stronger than the former fifth Espada Nnoitra and he'd never expected to face an opponent stronger than himself…least of all the former third Espada.

She was lying, she _had_ to be!

Yes, yes, it had to be a filthy, filthy lie!

"You lie, girl!" he spat, suddenly charging and hurling a battery of bala blasts at her.

The horse lady made no attempt to dodge or block his attacks, instead opting to stand there and take them.

"You lie, you lie, you _lie!_" he screamed at the top of his lungs, continuing to rain bala blasts down on his opponent as he began to rise into the air.

The horse lady had to die now, yes she did, yes she did, she had to die for lying!

The barrage of bala had stirred up a cloud of smoke and dust, obscuring her from Rondare's view, if she was even still alive, but he had to be sure she was dead, yes he did, yes he did! He began to charge a _cero oscuras_, the powerful black cero that only an Espada-level arrancar could do, and even then it could be done only in their released form. It's raw, black energy would destroy her for sure, yes it would, yes it would!

He fired the deadly energy from his palms, laughing maniacally at his assured victory, and in his mad laughter, he manage to miss a blur moving from the smoke cloud that was nearly too fast for his eyes to comprehend, even without being distracted.

"See? _See?_ I am stronger girl, yes I am, yes I am, and you are _dead!_ Yes you are, yes you are!" he cackled, pleased with himself.

"Up here." came a voice from above and behind, and he suddenly felt raw terror unlike anything he'd ever imagined. It _wasn't_ possible, there was no way…

He turned, and there above him was the horse lady, looking unharmed as she hoisted her lance-like weapon back into a launch position.

"No…" he stammered, "no, no, no, _no_!"

The last thing he saw was the lance spiraling towards him at a blinding speed…

* * *

Chompy had been quite comfortable hiding underneath the nice lady's hair, even as she had begun to fight some hideous monster. He'd been protected from harm in his little hiding spot, and he'd liked that; he was a small and primitive creature, but he understood enough to know that such a fight was no place for him.

But something had happened, and he wasn't quite sure what; first there had been a lot of loud noises and a swirling cloud of smoke and dust that nearly gagged him, and then he'd felt the air pressing him down onto the lady's shoulder suddenly before the pressure came to an abrupt halt…and his grip on the lady hadn't been strong enough to keep him attached when she had stopped.

He was flying through the air now, and had a perfect bird's-eye view of…well, _everything_.

It was all very fascinating, but the tiny hollow was also smart enough to realize that it was going to be a _very_ long way down…

* * *

Hanatarō panted as he ducked around the corner of another building, fearful that the pounding of his heart would be loud enough to give away his hiding spot to the now-pissed arrancar that was searching for him. Oh, what he would give to run into Ichigo or even Captain Zaraki right about now!

He looked up towards the artificial sky, praying for a miracle-

-and instead got a face full of Chompy as the tiny creature fell screaming out of the sky.

Hanatarō fell backwards into the sand with a yelp, and carefully pried the small lizard hollow from his face, thankful that the impact hadn't shattered his nose, though it was sure to leave him with a black eye or two. Chompy, meanwhile, only seemed to be a bit dazed, and not even his tiny mask was cracked.

The soul reaper chuckled quietly and petted the creature, glad to have some company at least, and glad they were both unharmed.

An ominous shadow fell over them, and the timid shinigami felt a shiver of fear run down his spine as he turned around, knowing _exactly_ who it was.

"_There_ you are, you little rat!" snarled the arrancar menacingly.

Hanatarō gulped, and gently tossed Chompy into the sand so that he could escape, at least.

"No more running, soul reaper! Fight me!" bellowed the arrancar.

Faced with no other choice, Hanatarō drew his zanpaktou and held it out meekly, trembling as he did so. His zanpaktou _healed_ wounds; it was no good for combat! Oh God, he was going to die here, die alone, and die horribly!

The arrancar batted the blade out of his hands effortlessly, laughing cruelly.

"That's it? You're pathetic!" he announced, raising his own blade high for the first, and final, blow. Hanatarō could only shut his eyes tightly and wait for it to all be over.

He waited and…

*CHOMP!*

A shriek filled the air around him, and as he opened his eyes, he saw Chompy dangling from the arrancar's left ear, shaking about vigorously as he attempted to tear his earlobe off. The arrancar dropped his sword and began tugging at the nuisance on his ear, trying to dislodge it.

With a roar of pain, he succeeded…and Chompy succeeded in taking a piece of the ear with him, swallowing it whole.

The arrancar growled, and gripped the tiny lizard tightly with both hands.

"My turn, you stupid animal!" he yelled, opening his jaws and raising Chompy towards them, preparing to bite the smaller hollow's head off.

Not knowing what else to do, Hanatarō picked up the arrancar's own sword and stabbed him through the right thigh at the last second.

The arrancar screamed and dropped Chompy, and Hanatarō quickly caught the falling lizard and took off in a dead run as the arrancar pulled the sword free of his leg and began to hobble after them.

Hanatarō rounded another corner and skidded to a halt, falling backwards into the sand as he came face to face with another hollow, a massive snake-like beast with jaws big enough to swallow him whole. In the back of his mind, he mused that no one _but_ him could run from a bad situation only to find one that was ten times worse…

He heard the other arrancar round the corner behind him, and he knew he was trapped now. Worse, he saw the snake-hollow's mouth glowing red with the promise of a cero, and this time there was no escape. He held Chompy to his chest tightly and closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable end…

He felt the heat of the cero as it exploded behind him, and…wait, had the hollow somehow _missed_ him?

He opened his eyes only to find that the snake hollow was still there, but a quick glance behind him revealed a smoldering crater and no sign of the arrancar that had been chasing him. In his confusion, he was only dimly aware that someone was shaking him by the shoulder.

"Hanatarō!" Renji shouted in his face, trying to snap him out of his trance, "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Renji…

And the huge snake-hollow was still there…

Finally, it all clicked together for him, and Hanatarō realized that the "hollow" was actually the bankai form of Renji's zanpaktou, _Zabimaru_, and that the lieutenant had just saved him.

"Oh, _thank you_!" he gushed, "Thank you, Lieutenant Abarai! I thought we were going to die!"

"We?" asked Renji questioningly before noticing Chompy, who was now crawling up on Hanatarō's shoulder and eyeing Renji's hand. The redhead quickly withdrew said hand before the tiny monster decided to do anything.

"Come on, Hanatarō; the goon squad could use your help right about now." said Renji, and the younger soul reaper's expression brightened at the concept of people actually needing his help for a change.

"Of course, Lieutenant! Lead the way!"

* * *

The last _Getsuga Tenshō_ Ichigo used was the final straw for the decrepit building; it had shattered the ice and the two arrancar easily enough, and now as the building around them began to shake violently, it was clear that a collapse was imminent.

He scooped Rukia up under his right arm - much to her protest, of course - and ran like hell as the building began to fall down on top of them.

Even when he made it outside, he didn't dare stop; instead, he focused on the nearest source of reiatsu that he could sense and made a beeline for it, hoping it would be one of his friends.

"Put me down, you dummy!" screamed Rukia, pounding her tiny fists against his chest uselessly.

"It's faster this way," he said as he glanced down at her, "considering how short your legs are."

Rukia's face turned an angry shade of red, and Ichigo realized a bit belatedly that maybe this _wasn't_ the time for him to be taking cracks at her height.

Rukia slammed a fist into the _one_ area that was guaranteed to garner a reaction, and Ichigo coughed as he released her finally, instinctively trying to bend over to protect his injured groin…but doing so while running didn't work so well, as he fell and went tumbling end over end before coming to a rest…

…right at Zaraki's feet.

The bloodied captain grinned down at him, clearly enjoying Ichigo's pain as he roared in laughter.

The substitute shinigami coughed once more and glared upwards before rolling over and trying to get back to his feet.

Rukia just came up beside him, smiling sweetly…or as sweetly as she could manage, anyway.

"And what lesson have we learned today?" she chirped, a sadistic grin on her lips.

"That you're a freakin' psychopath!" shouted Ichigo, moving his hands to protect himself from another attack that never came.

Rukia had tensed herself to jump up and kick him square in his face, but the sound of an explosion stopped her, and as the trio turned towards the source, all the could see was a wall of black fire eight meters high rushing towards them, having already torn through a smaller building, bisecting it straight down the middle.

All three of the soul reapers quickly dodged to the side as the wall of flame continued on it's path for several more meters before finally dying down and vanishing entirely, leaving a line of glass across the sand in it's wake.

"Ushii…" growled Zaraki.

Without another word, the three began to follow the trail of scorched earth and glass back to it's origin.

* * *

Their roles had been completely reversed now, and it was the arrancar who was being forced to play defensively, with most of his armor shattered. Cracks had begun to form throughout the white, bone-like blades of his twin swords, and Anrak knew that this fight would soon be over.

All thanks to Kagi's hollow mask.

He shivered involuntarily, not happy at all with things. It wasn't like he wanted to _die_, certainly not, but the power granted to him through Kagi's mask…it was black and terrifying, so much darker than his normal powers.

His own twin swords, black as night and burning as hot as a smith's forge, were filled with a fierce new energy that they'd never displayed before, and every swing was leaving a trail of black fire in it's wake, the blades themselves were searing hot…and the arrancar had the countless burn marks along his torso and arms to prove it.

The blood grooves of both blades turned red, glowing ominously with the burning desire to kill and destroy, and he raised the swords high, crossing them overhead as he prepared to bring them down and end this battle once and for all. The arrancar raised his own swords defensively, but it was a futile gesture, and they both knew it as Anrak brought his blades down with a fierce battle cry that echoed across the desert sands.

The energized black blades shattered the arrancar's swords effortlessly, ripping down and through his body, obliterating his remaining armor as it did so, and engulfing the body in black fire. In less than a second, the blades had torn through the body entirely on their downward swing, and their tips impacted upon the sand.

The ground beneath Anrak's feet erupted in a black explosion, scorching a deep crater easily some fifty meters across, and sent a wall of black fire racing forward from the point of impact.

There was no trace of the arrancar left, no sign that he'd ever even existed aside from the ravaged battleground surrounding Anrak.

Condensing his spiritual pressure under his feet, he began to rise up out of the crater until he was level with the ground, and he began to walk across the air towards solid ground, noting as he did so the black ripples his armored feet left when they touched down upon the not-so-solid "ground," and how it burned the earth when he finally set foot upon the sand.

The battle was over, and now he wanted answers. Steeling himself for what was sure to be an unpleasant confrontation, he closed his eyes and forced his mind into Kagi's inner world.

* * *

She stood out in the open as he approached, and he was just in time to see her removing the mask from her face, with amber eyes returning to their normal sapphire-blue. She made eye contact only briefly with him before looking away, clearly aware that Anrak wasn't pleased.

"You promised you wouldn't get mad…" she reminded him carefully, and Anrak forced a nod, remembering his vow.

"How did this happen? _When_ did it happen?" he asked.

"How?" Kagi snorted. "I told you before, baka; when you died, the remains of your soul mixed with the decaying remnants of the hollow and that _changed_ me. It's always been a part of me, for as long as we've been in the Soul Society. I would have been a purely fire-based zanpaktou had it not been for that, _Reddo-en Hime_, the Red-Flame Princess… The hollow's influence made me change and become _Kage Shitsukoi_, and I was made darker by your own shadow feelings, but the hollow part of me stayed dormant for years after our arrival."

"When did it wake up?"

"Do you remember when I first granted you my shikai form? I had hoped that you would finally trust me, and be willing to talk with me more, be willing to come in here and spend time with me…that you wouldn't reject me anymore…"

"But I did reject you, didn't I? Nothing changed between us." said Anrak, feeling a twinge of guilt as he realized that his own selfishness had played a part in this.

"Yes, you did…and you can't possibly imagine how much that hurt. I felt betrayed, used, unwanted…and in my despair, it woke up."

"I remember you being unusually hostile the following week, now that you mention it."

"I spent all week fighting against it on and off before finally subduing it, and when that happened, the mask appeared. I realized quickly that I could summon it at will and gain the hollow's strength…but it's too dark, even for me. I don't _like_ using it, and I only don the mask on occasion when you sleep, just to maintain my dominance over the hollow. But when you nearly died last week, I lost control for a few moments and it got free… It burned both Kurosaki and Captain Zaraki as they tried to pick up the physical zanpaktou to return it to you."

"Why didn't you _tell_ me?"

"Tell you _what_, exactly? That I'm no different than one of those filthy Vizards, or worse, a hollow? If I had, you'd have never drawn your sword again and would be dead by now. I kept it a secret in order to _protect_ you, just like I keep all the other secrets. You're better off _not_ knowing everything I know about you."

"That's _not_ your decision…" growled Anrak. "We're supposed to be a team, and that means I have a _right_ to know these things."

"And I deny you that right because there are some truths that could destroy you, you fool!" she spat back, her voice rising in anger.

"_You_ don't get to make that call, Kagi! This is _my_ life we're talking about here!"

"Fine! You want some truth? I'll tell you, but you won't _like_ it! You want disclosure? You are nothing but a lowly, cowardly _farmer_ without me!" she screamed, and Anrak took a step back, blinking.

A farmer? That wasn't so bad, really…but Kagi wasn't done yet.

"You have no _idea_ how pathetic you were; you were so afraid of fighting and so opposed to the very notion of violence that you _refused_ to even own a simple dagger for defense because you didn't want to be a part of the 'cycle of violence!' You wouldn't even eat meat because you thought it was _wrong_ to kill animals for food, so you only grew crops. You were so _terrified_ of heights that whenever the roof developed a leak, your _wife_ had to be the one to go fix it because you couldn't climb the ladder!" Kagi ranted, and with each word, Anrak felt more and more confused.

"You had gone to a neighboring farm when the bandits came, and because you _refused _to own any weapons, she had _nothing_ to defend herself with! They raped and killed her and then burnt down the farm because of _your_ weakness! You saw the flames from the distance and ran home, but it was all too late; if you had owned a sword, if you'd had a spine, if you had just _stayed home_, maybe you could have saved her, but your own godforsaken weakness ruined _everything_!"

"I…but-"

"And when you died and came to Soul Society, I was so _happy_ to see that you had forgotten everything, that I had a blank slate to work with. But you couldn't hear my voice at first, and so you went about doing what came natural; being meek and working on a farm in West 54, growing crops for the Soul Reapers. I had to scream and scream and scream just so you could _barely_ hear my voice…and you mistook me for your conscience. I _used_ that to urge you to throw away the garden tools and go to the academy, to pick up a blade and learn how to fight."

"…I thought that was just my own conscience, telling me that it would be for the greater good if I became a shinigami."

"And that's _exactly_ how I wanted it! I convinced you that you_ wanted_ to go to the academy and be a soul reaper, that you _wanted_ to learn to be strong, and that you _needed_ to stick it out those six years in the academy because despite the hardships, it was the 'right' thing to do."

"You lied to me…you've used me all along…" Anrak murmured numbly, the realization sinking in that his entire afterlife was a farce, a sham built around Kagi's lies and manipulations…and now he was in Hueco Mundo, the land of the hollows, because of those lies.

"Do you see now why I keep secrets, lover? It's all for you, for your own good…to make you stronger, _better _than you were before…" she whispered, drawing close and caressing his face affectionately, tenderly. "Every lie I've ever told, every truth I've ever hid has all been for you…for _us_."

Anrak reached up and knocked her hand away, taking a step back.

"No more…" he said, swallowing hard. "I'm not your pawn, Kagi. My life isn't some game for you to play around with."

"Don't be stupid; of course it's not a game. I told you, I did this all for us-"

"No more!" Anrak shouted. "No more lies, no more bullshit, no more _you!_"

Kagi flinched, hurt by his words and his tone.

"Anrak…" she said reaching out for him again, but he slapped her hand away.

"I mean it! It's _over_; no more games, Kagi. I'm done, I'm through with you. I don't want to speak with you ever again."

She opened her mouth to protest, but Anrak had already retreated from her inner world, leaving her feeling so very, very alone.

* * *

He opened his eyes to the sound of his friends, and his captain, all rushing towards him. As he recalled his bankai and sheathed his zanpaktou for the last time, Anrak at least took some comfort in noticing that everyone was alive, and more or less okay.

He wasn't surprised when Neliel glomped him cheerfully, sending them both sprawling backwards into the sand.

And for once, he couldn't find the energy to try and shake her off; he simply let her squeeze him, staying silent until the overzealous woman released him of her own accord.

Anrak sat up in the sand and watched with emotionless eyes as the others exchanged tales of their battles, with Satsu being very animated in his discussion with Enjeru. Normally, he'd have been right there with them all, laughing…but he felt empty inside at the moment, and couldn't find any emotion to show as he struggled with everything Kagi had told him.

Nel noticed his strange silence and frowned, worried for her friend.

"An, are you okay?" she asked, keeping her voice low so the others wouldn't hear.

He turned to look at her, sadness finally surfacing in his eyes.

"How can I be okay when I don't even know who I really am?"


	21. Lost and Found

**Lost and Found**

It had been three days since the final battle in Hueco Mundo, three days since the party had returned home to the Soul Society. Three days, and they were all a haze to Anrak.

He felt lost and confused, and was only vaguely aware that the group had been debriefed in front of Head-Captain Yamamoto repeatedly, and that his friends had finally caught on to the fact that something was bothering him, but he couldn't hear their words; when he spoke at the debriefings, he had been flat and emotionless as he mechanically laid out his version of the events, and the words of his friends were all unintelligible gibberish to his ears.

He was functioning solely on auto-pilot, numb to the world around him. Only Neliel had the slightest inkling of what was troubling him, and he had refused to elaborate for her after their return to the Seireitei.

And still, he had yet to speak to _Kage Shitsukoi_ again.

The spirit had tried to talk to him a couple of times, tried to re-open dialogue between them, but Anrak had quickly and harshly shut her up.

He was through with Kagi and her secrets and lies. He had even stopped carrying the zanpaktou with him around the Seireitei anymore, instead leaving the cursed object in his quarters.

Anrak could remember his days in the Rukon, the academy, and his early days in the Seireitei. He remembered feeling unsure about fighting and holding a sword, and despite his proficiency at swordplay, he'd always held reservations about wielding a blade.

Somehow over the years, the reservations had mostly faded away and he'd become more comfortable with the sword, perhaps as a result of Kagi's influence, and perhaps a side-effect of being stuck with Squad 11 for over a century.

And now all of those old reservations had returned in force; the zanpaktou that had become some comfortable in his hands, so _familiar_, had become a foreign object, heavy and unwieldy once again.

All because he wasn't meant to fight. All because he was, at heart, a farmer rather than a warrior. He was a fake shinigami, and it was all because of Kagi and her secrets and lies.

More than once over the past few days, Anrak had considered fleeing the Soul Society and disappearing back into the Rukon to start over, to find who he truly was, but the choice to throw away the past hundred-plus years wasn't an easy one, and worse still was the concept of leaving his friends behind.

Though, he had already decided that if he _did_ leave, he'd leave that damned sword behind.

A knock at his door snapped him out of his thoughts, and he walked over and slid the wooden door open to reveal the diminutive Yachiru standing there, holding a note.

"Hi Annie!" she said cheerfully. "How are you today?"

"Fine, Lieutenant." he lied, forcing a smile.

"Great!" she said, handing him the carefully-folded piece of paper in her hands. "Kenny will be glad to hear you're feeling better, too. Oh, and he says not to be late, or else!"

Anrak blinked and looked down at the note as she walked away, calling out one last "Bye, Annie!"

He closed the door and sat down on the edge of his bed, unfolding the note even though he already knew what it was.

_Wednesday, Sōkyoku Hill, 0800._

Anrak sighed and crumpled the note, flinging it into an empty wastebasket. He'd always known Captain Zaraki hadn't been bluffing about wanting to fight him, though he was a bit surprised at being given advance warning.

Then again, this was probably Zaraki's way of making sure Anrak had time to get his head on straight so the fight would be more "fun."

It was Monday morning, and Anrak had absolutely no intention of meeting the captain Wednesday.

In fact, leaving the Seireitei altogether was starting to sound better and better.

He frowned as a stray thought jolted through his head, realizing he had something he needed to do before he left, a debt he needed to repay.

He pulled out his coin-purse and emptied it's contents on the bed, counting his money quickly. Not quite as much as he'd have liked, but it was enough. He returned the money to it's container and stood to leave.

Out of habit, he reached for his zanpaktou, ready to slide it into his belt, but he stopped himself before his hand grasped the dark blue scabbard.

No.

Never again.

_Anrak, can we just-_

_**Shut up,**_ he shot back curtly, silencing Kagi as he turned away from the sword propped against the wall.

He exited his quarters and walked away, never looking back.

* * *

"_I'm left alone with all the monsters in my head…_  
_They say to me you won't choose life over death._  
_Insane attraction causes stillness in my mind,_  
_Only a fraction of the things I've left to find_."

It hurt. There was no other way for Kagi to describe Anrak's actions. Why couldn't he understand that it had all been for the best? She'd thought that he finally trusted her, believed in her…

And now, all of this stupid drama over something that she felt shouldn't even _matter_ at all!

"_Oh without you, all alone,_  
_I see right through;_  
_Strong intentions left and gone_."

"_I can't control my so impulsive frame of mind;_  
_I feel the reigns, the bridle, jerk my head in line._  
_I wanna scream, I wanna kill, I wanna shout,_  
_I choke it back and take a punch right in the mouth_."

Anrak's harsh refusal to speak with her had been like a punch in the mouth, a devastating blow that she could only admit to here and now, alone. He couldn't know about this, not ever…

"_Oh without you, all alone,_  
_I see right through:_  
_Strong intentions left and gone!_"

"_I cannot take this on my own, there's no excitement…_  
_You'd rather see me rot alone!_  
_Instead I suffer here for this!_"

This was foolish of her; why should she allow herself to feel hurt and betrayed? She'd done nothing wrong, _nothing_! If anything, the fool should be on his knees thanking her, praising her, _worshipping_ her, even!

She pulled the mask from the shadows around her and stared at it for a long second, putting it on for just a moment.

"_I take a breath from that toxic mask of mine,_  
_And fight the urge to disappear into the night._  
_And by my side I see a monster on my wing,_  
_He drives me on, he keeps me safe, he makes me see_…"

Kagi pulled the mask away from her face and looked at it sadly, letting it dissolve back into the night.

It _was_ a monster, her monster…and she _hated_ it, now more than ever. If not for that stupid mask, they'd both be dead, she knew that, but now she found herself thinking that death might be preferable to the cold shoulder she was receiving now.

"_Oh without you, all alone,_  
_I see right through:_  
_Strong intentions left and gone!_"

"_I cannot take this on my own, there's no excitement…_  
_You'd rather see me rot alone!_  
_Instead I suffer here for this…_"

* * *

Hours later found Anrak knocking on a door and waiting for a response, shifting the gift he had to his other hand as he waited.

Slightly annoyed at the lack of a response, he knocked on the doorframe again, harder this time, and he was rewarded with the sound of movement on the other side.

The door slid open to reveal the face of Captain Shunsui Kyōraku, who looked more than a little down with his usual smile gone from his face. The older man seemed surprised to see Anrak, but quickly hid it behind a fake smile and a friendly hello.

"I'm sorry, Ushii, but today's not a good day for us to work on your swordplay…" he began apologetically, and Anrak cut him off by shoving the gift into his hands; a jug of the most expensive sake he could afford.

"I'm not here for me, Captain; I'm here for you."

Shunsui had been kind to Anrak, had gone out of his way and taken time out from his own duties to teach the younger shinigami the art of dual-wielding. Anrak may have been lost in his own problems a lot lately, but he wasn't so blind as to not see the pain Kyōraku was feeling over the death of his closest friend.

Anrak felt obligated to be there for the man, to try and help Shunsui as best he could before he left the Seireitei.

Shunsui looked at the jug for a long moment before looking back up at Anrak.

"This stuff is _really_ expensive…"

"But you need it right now." stated Anrak evenly. "And, you shouldn't drink it alone."

Silence filled the air for a long moment as the captain considered his words before nodding and welcoming Anrak inside.

They were in the captain's quarters for Squad 13, and as the half-filled box in the center of the room indicated, Shunsui had been in the middle of packing up the late Captain Jūshirō Ukitake's personal belongings.

"Juu kept these cups just for sake when I came over, although he didn't drink as much these last few years as he used to when we were younger…" said Kyōraku, producing two small cups and filling them to the brim with sake.

Anrak gratefully accepted one of the cups and slowly sipped at the sake, savoring the taste while Kyōraku inhaled the entirety of his cups contents, swishing it about in his mouth for a moment before swallowing.

"That's the good stuff." sighed the captain finally finally. "Juu would have liked it."

"I'm sorry I never got a chance to really know him." said Anrak truthfully.

"You'd have liked him… And he'd have liked you, too; you're a good kid, Ushii."

Anrak twitched slightly at being called a kid, but considering the captain had at _least_ three hundred years on him, he couldn't argue.

Shunsui refilled his cup and began to stare off into space, taking a slow sip.

"I remember when Juu and I first met shortly before we went to the academy… Back in those days, I don't think we were too different from you and Lieutenant Abarai." he said, smiling slightly. "We even went fishing ourselves once… Juu's idea, if you can believe it."

"I don't… It doesn't sound like the Jūshirō Ukitake I've always heard about."

"We were young back then, young and a little reckless. He matured quickly as his health began to deteriorate… But we went fishing, got into a couple of bar fights, did panty raids in the girl's dorms… I miss those days and the life Juu had in him back then."

"He was really ill these past few years, wasn't he?"

"The last two decades have been the worst by far… He was my best friend, my brother, and I miss him…but I'm glad his pain is over."

Anrak nodded in agreement, taking another sip from his own sake cup as Shunsui began to tell the story of exactly how he had met Jūshirō. Anrak listened attentively, but he was keenly aware that someone was lurking outside, waiting and watching.

He'd felt their reiatsu several minutes ago, and he was having trouble pinning down who it might be.

Whoever it was didn't have any talent for hiding their reiatsu or their presence in general, which ruled out members of the Stealth Force and Enjeru, and the fact that whoever it was wasn't knocking the door down meant it _wasn't_ Captain Zaraki.

Well, he'd deal with whoever it was later; right now it was more important to talk with Kyōraku and help him grieve over his friend.

Anrak sat and talked with Shunsui for hours, well past sunset and beyond the contents of the sake jug; listening more than speaking, and speaking more than drinking.

Finally, Shunsui sighed and looked at the half-packed box of belongings before looking back at Anrak appreciatively.

"My squad, even my sweet little Nanao, has been giving me space to deal with this alone… You don't know how much I needed someone to talk to, Ushii…hell, I'm not even sure _I_ knew how much I needed it…but I have to finish packing Juu's things away, and that's something I need to do alone."

Anrak nodded as he stood to leave.

"I understand, Captain. I'm glad I could be of at least _some_ help."

"You've helped a great deal, Ushii." said Shunsui with a sad smile. "You know, when Juu first began to get truly sick, he was very depressed at first…he said that he felt lost and his life wasn't going the way he felt it was supposed to… A few days later I came to see him again, and he was much more calm and peaceful. When I asked what changed, he said it was simply his view. He told me that it's not until we are truly lost that we can really begin to understand ourselves, and that every man's life is a diary in which he means to write one story, yet writes another."

"That sounds pretty deep."

"Juu was a very intelligent man, wise beyond his years…" Shunsui agreed, fixing Anrak with a knowing stare. "I think his words can be applied to more than just his own declining health."

Anrak swallowed hard, wondering just how much Shunsui knew about what was going on and _how_ he knew, but the captain didn't offer anything more, and went back to packing the box. Anrak bowed in respect before disappearing out the door and into the night.

He didn't head for his quarters and the damned sword that still lay inside there; instead, he headed for the training chamber underneath Sōkyoku Hill to think. Things always seemed so much clearer under a blue sky, even if it was an artificial sky.

Besides, he knew who was trailing him now, and Anrak realized he needed to talk to them nearly as much as he'd needed to talk to Shunsui.

* * *

He intentionally led his stalker to the secret entrance of the chamber and began the long descent down the ladder into the enormous room, being sure to quickly hide his reiatsu and duck behind one of the massive stones that littered the artificial landscape as soon as he was at the bottom.

His stalker descended shortly thereafter, slowing walking through the room and looking about, trying to figure out where Anrak had disappeared to, and now he followed her for a few moments before stepping out behind her.

"Hello, Neliel." he greeted her evenly.

The startled arrancar gave a surprised yelp and whirled around to face him, her cheeks flushing at being caught off-guard.

"An, we need to talk." she said slowly. "You can't keep dodging me or Renji or Enjeru or everyone else forever."

He opened his mouth to reply, but stopped himself when he noticed that she wore two swords on her hip: her own zanpaktou in it's pale green scabbard on her left hip, and _Kage Shitsukoi_ on her right hip. He scowled upon seeing the sword, irritated to even see the damned thing, and irritated that Nel had taken it upon herself to enter his quarters and take it.

"What are you doing with _that_?" he growled angrily. Nel smiled softly and removed it from her belt, handing the zanpaktou back to it's rightful owner.

"I thought you should have it with you…it's a part of you."

Anrak grasped the scabbard tightly, his knuckles whitening.

"A shinigami's zanpaktou is the physical manifestation of a spirit as opposed to your zanpaktou storing your old hollow powers…" he began, and Neliel nodded.

"I know… Is your spirit somehow to blame for your confusion?"

"It's _her_ fault, all of it! She lied to me, Neliel! She's manipulated me and used me for over a hundred years!" he roared, seething. He glanced down at the sword in his hand. "I _hate_ her!" he spat finally, throwing the sword against one of the giant boulders in the room.

Nel remained unfazed by his outburst, and calmly walked over to retrieve the sword.

"So when you said you didn't know who you were anymore, you mean she tricked you into becoming a soul reaper?"

"Exactly! I'm not a fighter, Nel! I never was; it's all been a lie constructed by _her_!"

The arrancar nodded solemnly, walking around behind Anrak and wrapped her arms around him…sliding the zanpaktou into it's traditional place on his hip as she did so. Anrak hissed and went to snatch it away and throw it again, but Neliel held onto it tightly, preventing him from removing it.

"No, An… Don't throw it away; just draw it."

"What?"

"Draw your sword." she commanded, finally releasing him and stepping around in front.

"I will _never_ draw-" he began, but was cut off as Nel suddenly drew her own zanpaktou and attacked him. Without thinking, Anrak instinctively drew _Kage Shitsukoi_ and blocked the strike.

"Nel, what the hell are you _doing_?" he cried, not believing that Nel, gentle Nel, would attack him without provocation.

"For someone who's supposedly not a fighter, you sure drew your blade and managed to block that attack pretty fast." she commented before striking at him again.

Anrak deflected the blow quickly, not entirely sure where she was going with all of this.

"You seem to have the reflexes of a warrior." she calmly announced before launching into a fierce battery of attacks that began to force Anrak back. He managed to deflect or block most of them, but a few found their way past his defenses, and he felt the tip of her blade bite into his flesh.

Still, Nel always pulled back each time she broke through, being careful not to truly hurt him.

But Anrak could only accept being on the defensive for so long before he blocked and countered, launching into his own series of attacks that left them dead-even; he was landing as many blows as she was, and she was every bit as good at deflecting his strikes as he had been with hers.

"And you definitely have a warrior's instinct to fight back." Neliel observed calmy.

"Just because I'm not a fighter doesn't mean I shouldn't defend myself!" he countered angrily.

"You could have simply dodged to the side. You could have ran away. You _could_ have avoided drawing your sword and fighting back, but you _didn't_."

"It's a conditioned response. Damn it, Nel, it turns out I was supposed to be a simple _farmer_, not some swordsman. _That's_ who I am; it's who I was in my old life. This? All this is a lie!"

"Are you sure? Maybe your old life is the lie and this is the _real_ you." she stated, finally stepping back and returning her zanpaktou to it's scabbard.

"I was a _pacifist_, damn it, and look at what I've become!"

"Is that who you truly want to be? A pacifistic farmer living a quiet life?"

"I…I don't know."

"You need to figure it out, then. If you're not sure of who you are, you should at least work on becoming who you _want_ to be." Nel said softly.

There was wisdom in her words that he couldn't deny, and it made Anrak consider leaving the Seireitei once more.

"I've thought about that…" he admitted slowly. "I think it might be best if I just leave for a while, go back to the Rukon and try to figure out who I really am."

"You would leave all your friends behind?" asked Neliel, surprised to hear that he was considering going AWOL.

"I can't drag them down with me. This is my problem."

"_Our_ problem." she corrected. "If you leave, I'm going with you. Just because it's a journey of self-discovery doesn't mean you have to go alone; who would you turn to when things get tough? Who would you lean on?"

"Neliel-"

"I mean it. I'm going with you. But I don't think we need to go anywhere. Maybe you didn't end up where you wanted to be, but I think you're exactly where you _need_ to be. How many lives have you saved, An? How many souls have you helped cross-over? How many hollows have you purified and laid to rest?"

"I don't know…I haven't kept track."

"Do you regret it? Do you regret helping lost souls find peace? Do you regret saving people from death?"

"No! Of course not!"

"Could you turn your back on those in need?"

"How could you even ask-"

"I ask because it's _exactly_ what you're thinking about doing! Shinigami serve an important purpose in the world, maintaining the balance of good and evil, and you're talking about turning your back on that. There are people and souls who _need_ you, An. Your friends _need_ you. I-" Nel cut herself off abruptly, her cheeks turning red, but Anrak had missed her partial statement.

"It sounds like you're siding with Kagi…" he sighed.

"Maybe I am. Whatever her reasons were for leading you to this path, I think it was the right decision. This is where you belong, An; this is what you were meant to do."

"Why should you side with her? Nel, she _hates_ you. She always has. You have no idea how many times she's told me to kill you. If she had half a chance to do it herself, you'd be dead before you even knew what hit you."

Neliel blinked in shock, surprised by the revelation that Anrak's zanpaktou positively despised her. She couldn't imagine why the spirit hated her, but she had no reason to believe that her friend was lying to her, either.

"Let her hate me, then." she said slowly. "It doesn't change the fact that I agree with her decision to push you towards being a soul reaper. It seems like she's made you a stronger, more courageous person, and I think she pushed you here because she cares about you, about making you a better person."

"Ha!" Anrak snorted. "She's a selfish bitch! I think the real reason she wanted me to become a soul reaper was so she could fulfill her own bloody desires to fight and kill. She doesn't care about what's best for me!"

"Really?" Neliel murmured, reaching out and grasping his hands, hands that were still holding onto _Kage Shitsukoi_. She held his hands in an iron grip, preventing him from releasing the sword, and she directed the blade upwards, the tip pointing towards her chest.

"Let's test that theory." she said, jerking the blade towards her body with all her might.

"No!" Anrak cried in terror as a nightmarish vision of Nel impaled on his zanpaktou flashed through his mind, her blood coating his hands.

The tip pierced her white top and touched her skin…

…and the blade promptly broke apart into three pieces, falling to the ground harmlessly and leaving Neliel completely unscathed.

Anrak blinked, confused. He knew Neliel's _hierro _was strong, but there was no way it was _that_ strong.

"If she's really as selfish as you say, if she hates me so much, then why didn't she kill me when given the chance?" Nel asked softly.

He had no answers for her. It made no sense; there was no way Kagi was weak enough to simply break like that, unless…

"She knows you would never hurt me." Nel finished for him. "She knows your heart. She knows it would destroy you to ever kill one of your friends, and she chose to break herself instead of allowing your heart to suffer. Maybe she's not as selfish as you want to believe."

Anrak could only stare numbly at the broken hilt in his hands.

"You should talk to her." Nel whispered softly, stepping around behind him again and hugging him gently. "I'll be right here if you need me."

Anrak nodded and forced his mind into the dark corner of Hell that Kagi called home.

* * *

He wandered through the darkened landscape, brushing away bare tree limbs under the pale moonlight as he slowly made his way towards the clearing Kagi could normally be found in. The inner world the zanpaktou spirits lived in was supposed to be a reflection of the shinigami's own soul, but Anrak couldn't imagine that this dark and lifeless nightmare was truly his.

It was much more likely, he thought, that all these trees and bushes were supposed to be in bloom with a bright sun hanging overhead, but Kagi had managed to manipulate the environment and turn it into a twisted perversion of it's true form.

What Anrak felt should be a warm summer day was instead a cool autumn night.

That was at least one manipulation he could let slide without an argument; after all, Kagi had to live in here, and he didn't.

Finally, he reached the clearing…and there was Kagi, laying in the middle of it, looking battered and hurt.

His anger momentarily forgotten, Anrak rushed to her side in concern. He'd never her look so down, so utterly _defeated_.

"Breaking hurts…" she rasped.

"Of course it does, baka…" he chided her, musing slightly at the reversal of roles.

"You must be enjoying this." Kagi wheezed. "Seeing me lying on the ground broken after what I've done to you."

"You know that's not true…" Anrak said softly. "I don't like being lied to. I don't like being used. But I don't like seeing you in pain, either."

"You _hate_ me, remember?" Kagi spat at him weakly, looking away.

"I'm not happy with you right now, but I don't hate you. I'm sorry for saying I did."

"I'm still not going to apologize." Kagi said, struggling to sit up. Anrak helped her, gently raising her torso off the ground, and Kagi steadied herself by leaning backwards on her hands heavily. "Everything I've done was for you, to make you stronger, and I will _never _apologize for that."

"Did you have to lie to me? Did you have to keep so many secrets?"

"How better to force you to move forward than to deny you a past to look back at?"

"You can't try to erase the past just because it doesn't fit in with the present or with your vision of the future, Kagi."

"Yes, I can." she said defiantly, finally summoning enough strength to sit up without bracing herself. "I shouldn't have given in and told you about who you were. You were better off not knowing. We were _both_ happier when you didn't know."

"That didn't give you the right to deceive me."

"Doesn't it? I wouldn't even _exist_ if you weren't meant to be a soul reaper, you moron! You were squandering your afterlife away in the same way you squandered your life away. What, do you think your talent for swordsmanship came from me? It's all _you_; it's always been there, and it wouldn't exist either if you weren't meant to use it."

"Then why-" he began, but Kagi cut him off by placing a finger to his lips.

"In your old life, you decried violence because of how you were raised. Unfortunately, your upbringing ran counter to who you really are. And you never questioned it! You blindly followed the path your parents had laid out for you from childhood through moving out on your own and taking a wife. You never once considered that maybe, just _maybe_, their way of life wasn't meant for you. But I couldn't reach you when you were alive; all I could do was sit and watch."

"What was I supposed to be, then? A samurai?"

"Maybe. Maybe you were meant to be a bandit. There's no way to know for sure; all I can tell you is that you were meant to_ fight_."

"You should have told me all of this earlier."

"And _you_ should have trusted me when I said I did everything for you." Kagi snapped bitterly, her eyes flashing with anger. "I may have told you a few lies, but I have _never_ lied about that, and I never will; every lie told and every secret hidden has all been for you."

Kagi paused momentarily, scowling.

"And to think, that ditzy arrancar actually believed in me when _you_ didn't."

"Does this mean you'll stop hating her now?"

"Never! I still have plenty of reasons to hate her." Kagi hissed, forcing herself to stand up finally, wobbling slightly on unsteady legs.

"Like what?" asked Anrak, annoyed that Kagi was still deadset against Nel after everything.

"She's a hollow. I hate the color green. Her breasts are bigger than mine. Her cheerfulness irritates the piss out of me. But what I _really_ hate is the fact that her personality is too much like your wife's. You don't need that around you anymore; it'll make you weak again."

"How so? She's the one who agreed with you, remember? She supports your decision to drive me to become what I am."

"It's not that; it's the fact she's a throwback to your old life. You don't need that anymore. You need something new and different, something that fits in with your 'new' self."

"Like who?" asked Anrak, almost afraid of the answer.

"Yoruichi would be almost perfect if you'd get over this nonsense of looking at her as a sister. She'll make you stronger _and_ keep you on your toes. Or Soifon, if you'd just give it a try. There's only one choice that's better than either of them."

"Do tell…" Anrak prompted her dryly, already knowing where she was going with this.

Kagi grinned seductively and stepped closer to him, placing her hands on his chest.

"Honestly, _lover_," she said, licking her lips, "who else could be better than me? I've known you your entire life _and_ your entire afterlife. I've always been with you, and I know everything about you."

"You're also a spirit trapped inside this little world."

"So? You're in here with me right now, aren't you? You can enter any time you please, and you can force me to materialize in the real world just like when we were training for bankai."

"And that materialization only lasts for a few hours."

"So? That's long enough, isn't it?"

"Kagi," Anrak sighed, "no. We're partners, we work together, we fight together, but we can't actually _be_ together."

"God damn that green-haired wench." hissed Kagi, stepping away once more. "She's already got you wrapped around her little finger, doesn't she?"

"Knock it off; Neliel and I are just friends, and you know it."

"You don't have my knack for lying, so don't bother attempting it." Kagi sniffed disdainfully. "Anyway, do you forgive me for misleading you?"

"I thought you refused to apologize."

"I'm _not_ apologizing, I'm just asking if you forgive me; there's a difference."

Anrak paused for a long moment, considering. He was still somewhat angry over the deception, but he could feel truth in Kagi's words; she had done it all for him, and he was meant to do something other than wasting his life away on a farm.

"Hai, I forgive you…" he said slowly, "but I still don't appreciate the lies and secrets."

"Get used to it, baka; there are other secrets you're not ready for yet, and you may _never_ be ready for them. You're just going to have to trust me when I say that it's in your best interest that I keep them."

"I'll try and be more understanding in the future…to listen to your side of the story before I do anything rash."

"That's good enough, I suppose." she said, placing her hands on his chest again. "And don't worry; I'll be ready by Wednesday."

With that, she shoved him back out of her sanctum once more.

* * *

Anrak opened his eyes and found himself lying on his back, staring up at the artificial sky, with Neliel cradling his head in her lap as she looked skyward as well.

"It's so beautiful…" she murmured. "I don't care if it is fake, it's still pretty. I can't wait for spring when the sky really will be that shade of blue."

She glanced down at him, running her fingers through his hair softly.

"So, how did it go? Did you two make up?" she asked.

"Yeah, more or less. She's still harboring some secrets, and she _still_ says it's for my own good."

"Trust her, then; there's nothing else you can do other than stress yourself out over it." Nel said as Anrak sat up.

"Hai, you're right. Listen, Neliel, thanks for everything. I… I mean _we_-"

She placed a finger to his lips to silence him, eerily reminiscent of how Kagi had done just a few minutes ago, and smiled softly.

"Don't mention it, An. I'm just glad everything's back to normal; you had me worried for a while." she said, leaning forward and touching her forehead to his.

"I'm sorry… I never meant to make you worry." he said reaching up and cupping her chin gently.

"I know, An…" she whispered, leaning closer-

"Hey guys, what are you doing down here?" asked Satsu loudly, suddenly appearing next to them.

The duo broke apart, blushing furiously and noticing Takk and Renji standing near the ladder, both of whom were face-palming.

"You really _are_ an idiot." Takk admonished his younger brother. "We should have just turned around and left them alone."

"Why?" asked Satsu, completely clueless as to what he'd interrupted. Takk sighed again and slapped him in the back of the head.

"Look, Anrak, Nel, I'm sorry…" Renji began apologizing. "I didn't know you two were down here. I just thought I'd bring these two down here and help them master their shikai release. We didn't mean to interrupt-"

"You didn't interrupt anything." Anrak said hurriedly. "We were just talking, that's all."

"Exactly!" Nel chimed in, beaming brightly. "So there's nothing to worry about."

Renji didn't look at all convinced, but he nodded anyway and pulled _Zabimaru_ from it's scabbard and calling it into it's shikai form. He looked over at the two junior shinigami who were still bickering, and he snapped the whip-like blade in their direction, slamming the tip into the ground a couple of inches from their feet.

"Lesson number one: _pay attention!_" he bellowed, forcing them to look over at him.

Neliel giggled as Takk and Satsu jumped in surprise, and she and Anrak sat down and leaned back against a rocky outcropping to watch their friends train. As he observed the three sparring among themselves, though, Anrak found his mind drifting away to think about Wednesday morning…

* * *

Kenpachi sat on a stone on at summit of Sōkyoku Hill, waiting…although, he wasn't really sure what he was even waiting on anymore. Ushii wasn't going to show, he was sure of that; the kid had lost his edge, and had probably already fled the Seireitei.

Zaraki had seen Ushii's behavior countless times before, usually in younger shinigami that were fresh out of the academy, scared kids who had realized that they were in over their heads. They generally lasted about two weeks before they would pack up their few belongings and vanish into the night, never to be seen or heard from again.

He'd noticed the shift in Ushii's behavior since the return to the Soul Society, and he'd hoped the kid would snap out of it, both for the sake of their fight and because it would be a crime to see someone like Anrak just throw away all their potential.

But judging by the position of the morning sun, it was nearly eight o'clock, and still there was no sign of Ushii.

Zaraki gave a gruff sigh of disappointment and stood to leave, and as he did so, he felt a drop of water fall on his head, and then another, and another…

He glanced upward at the icicles dangling from the naked tree branches, surprised to see that they were melting. Frowning, he noticed that _all _the snow around him seemed to be softening and slowly melting away.

The snow shouldn't be melting, not yet…

But then, it _did _suddenly feel warmer, unseasonably so.

And there was something else in the air, something other than the heat; a familiar reiatsu approaching.

He glanced towards the path just in time to see a figure crest over the hill and begin walking towards him slowly, and the look on Zaraki's face showed his surprise.

The younger shinigami's strides were slow and purposeful, and the snow around his feet quickly melted away as he walked, almost as if it were recoiling in intimidation.

Zaraki smirked and nodded in approval as the other man placed his left hand on his scabbard and popped the sword loose with a flick of his thumb, wispy shadows leaking out from within and sparking another slight increase in the ambient temperature.

So, he hadn't fled after all…

The captain chuckled to himself as he drew his own zanpaktou, his face twisting into a mad grin.

"Let the fun begin."


	22. Black Fire

**Black Fire**

Zaraki was a monster.

_We come from...  
__Over the dark horizon sky,  
With twisted tales of sacrifice,  
To imagine or believe all the glory of the free!_

No other word was descriptive enough, none so perfect. He was a monster, pure and simple; a nigh-unstoppable beast whose lust for blood and violence was unmatched.

_**Why the hell am I here again?**_ Anrak wondered to himself, panting as the morning sun rose higher into the sky.

_Hunting all day an endless cry,  
The things I've seen I can't deny,  
Sinners, saints all mixed in one;  
The dawn of time has begun!_

He knew the answer, of course; Zaraki would hound him night and day if he'd refused, eventually forcing him into a corner. There would be no peace until they fought; that was simply the way of things in Squad 11.

Kagi, meanwhile, was singing again, lost to the unheard music of whatever dark muse she drew her inspiration from.

_Why can't you see what they're doing to me?  
Is it fair that I'm dying in vain?_

Dying? Not yet, though Anrak conceded that was certainly a possibility with the captain; Zaraki wasn't known for taking it easy with anyone, and this could very well _be_ a fight to the death.

He raised his zanpaktou in time to block an incoming swing from the crazed captain, digging his heels into the ground and refusing to budge as Zaraki tried to force him backwards. Anrak's face was a clear indicator of his determination while the captain wore a mad grin, laughing psychotically as they exchanged blows.

_Once in a land of sacrifice, now only valleys of demise,  
Shadows of a pale blue moonlight ride the waves of entity!_

"Come on, Ushii; you're not taking this seriously!" bellowed Zaraki as he finally forced Anrak to stumble backwards.

"Neither are you!" spat the younger shinigami in reply, slashing at Zaraki's face with a surprising burst of speed, but Kenpachi Zaraki wasn't one to be caught off-guard so easily, and he stepped back, almost avoiding the blade.

Almost.

_Why can't you see what they're doing to thee?  
Is it fair that you all die in vain?_

The very tip of the black blade dug into the captain's flesh, slicing upwards and narrowly missing his covered right eye.

It did, however, slash through the eye patch that Zaraki wore to seal away the bulk of his powerful reiatsu, tearing it from his face.

The sudden exposure to the crushing weight forced Anrak down to a knee as the air became thick and heavy around him, and still Zaraki could only grin madly.

"Is this better?" asked the captain, his voice dripping with an over-abundance of sadistic glee.

_Rise up with the steel and the power of the sword!  
Stand up and fight now and forever more!_

Anrak stopped holding back the last of his own spiritual pressure, nullifying the captain's monstrous reiatsu just enough to enable him to stand once more as the tattered eye patch fluttered by on the wind.

"Much better." he answered with more bravado than he actually felt.

"Then it's _your_ turn to stop holding back."

_Rise through the night sky with daylight's desire,  
To be free there must be black fire!_

"Bankai!"

* * *

"The Rukon looks like it's recovering nicely." remarked Ichigo as he walked through North 1 with Renji and Neliel.

Indeed, a handful of businesses had already re-opened, and dozens more were in various stages of repair. Everywhere he looked, Ichigo could see civilians and Soul Reapers diligently working on the reconstruction. There were still a couple of inches of snow covering the battered landscape, but that didn't seem to be deterring people from their work in the slightest.

"Two, three weeks tops and you won't be able to tell that there was ever a war to begin with." agreed Renji. "The second and third districts will take a little longer to recover, though, since they're further away from the Seireitei."

"But they _will_ recover." added Nel. "That's the important thing."

"Yeah…but the people of the Rukon still blame us for everything that happened." said Ichigo.

"Us?" echoed Renji. "Careful, strawberry; you're starting to sound like a _real_ shinigami there."

"Can it, pineapple-head!"

"What did you call me?"

"You heard-"

"Boys!" Neliel interrupted sharply, "Play nice!"

Neither man missed the slightly-teasing tone in her voice, and both gave a slight chuckle and ceased their bickering.

"Speaking of 'boys,'" began Ichigo with a grin, "where's your new boyfriend?"

"He's not… I mean _we're_ not…" Nel stuttered slightly, blushing from the accusation. "He said he had some work to do in the squad today."

"Which, for Squad 11, means he's probably getting drunk." snorted Ichigo.

"Or fighting." said Renji.

"Who's left to fight? Aizen's dead, Los Noches was destroyed and the surviving arrancar fled into the desert."

"Well, when he was in the hospital, Captain Zaraki _did_ come by and challenge him to a fight after we returned from Hueco Mundo…" said Nel, trailing off.

"There's no way he'd be stupid enough to actually _accept_ a challenge from Zaraki…would he?" asked Ichigo. "I mean, the man is insane!"

"Zaraki's not the type to take 'no' for an answer." said Renji ominously as they walked back through the North gate and into the Seireitei.

"I'm sure he'd have told me if he was actually going to fight the captain." said Neliel.

"Unless he didn't want you to worry about him…"

"Don't be silly! Of course he'd tell me-"

Nel was interrupted by the feeling of a massive reiatsu filling the air, and all three of them glanced towards the source on Sōkyoku Hill, each knowing the unique signature of it.

Zaraki.

A second reiatsu could be felt now, also very familiar, but somehow different. Warmer, perhaps…

A massive burst of black flame appeared at the top of the hill for a second before dying down.

No words needed to be exchanged as the three raced towards Sōkyoku Hill.

* * *

Captain Retsu Unohana of Squad 4 was sitting at her desk in the infirmary looking over a final tally of the Seireitei's losses over the past few months when she felt the first burst of reiatsu in the air. She didn't need to glance out her window to see what was going on, as she had dealt with this type of situation several times before.

"Isane?" she called lightly, summoning her lieutenant into the office.

"Yes, Captain?"

"Prepare two rooms for new arrivals."

"Zaraki's usual room, ma'am?"

A second burst of reiatsu could be felt in the air now as Unohana stood to go out.

"And Ushii's usual room, too." she added, dismissing Isane Kotetsu with a nod.

* * *

_Through the day and through the night,  
__with a dragons heart the warrior strikes!  
__This is the day that they'll be known as my enemy!_

He'd managed to catch the captain off-guard with the sheer physical power behind his bankai, driving him back several steps before finally landing a kick to Zaraki's midsection that sent him tumbling back a few meters.

Anrak didn't think there was much chance he'd ever get such an opportunity again.

He leapt into the air, twin swords raised high in preparation to come down and hopefully finish the fight, but Zaraki got to his feet quickly and raised his zanpaktou overhead, blocking the double strike. Anrak was mildly pleased to see he'd forced the captain to use _both_ hands to deflect the blow; Zaraki was infamous for only using one hand at a time to limit himself, to put himself on more-equal grounds with his usual opponents.

Zaraki managed to power Anrak's blades away, and promptly removed his left hand from the hilt of his sword, returning to a one-handed style.

But not before turning that left hand into a fist and driving it into Anrak's gut as hard as he could.

The younger shinigami stumbled backwards, the wind knocked from him despite the armor.

Yes, Zaraki was truly a monster of unimaginable strength.

Before he could fully recover, the captain was on him with a furious battery of sword blows, most of which impacted on the black steel of his armor harmlessly, although a felt a couple slice through the steel and bite into his flesh underneath.

Finally he managed to recover somewhat, meeting the captain's blade with his own two blades, blow for blow. He batted away one strike with his offhand sword and thrust his other blade towards Zaraki's head, intent on wiping that grin from his face.

Kenpachi jerked his head to the side by a couple of inches, avoiding most of the blade save for the very edge which sliced a fine bloody line into his cheek. Unfazed, Zaraki had spun his own around into a reverse grip and slammed the hilt into Anrak's chest, sending him flying back into the dirt and cracking the armored chest plate.

_Why can't you see what they're doing?  
__To what we believe in, we rise through the pain!_

Kagi was right; he couldn't stay down if he intended to prove to the captain that he wasn't just some nobody anymore. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to stand, ignoring the burning sensation in his chest area that signified cracked ribs.

As the captain approached, Anrak noticed that the blood grooves on his black blades were glowing red, eager to release their rage upon the world.

_Rise up with the steel and the power of the sword,  
__Stand up and fight now and forever more!  
__Rise through the night sky with daylight's desire;  
__To be free there must be black fire!_

* * *

The trees atop Sōkyoku Hill were burning.

The obsidian blaze consuming the trees was easily visible to Renji and the others as they raced through the streets of the Seireitei, and he noticed that virtually every Soul Reaper they passed had stopped to stare, excitedly asking one another what was going on.

There was another massive burst of shadowy flame, and several of the trees vanished instantly, consumed in a single blazing-hot flash. The people of the Rukon could probably see the flames as well and it was probably scaring them into thinking that war had returned already, which was more stress they didn't need.

What the hell was Anrak even _thinking_? He had to be absolutely insane to fight Kenpachi Zaraki!

"If he survives, we should kill him for being stupid." growled Ichigo.

"If he doesn't survive, I'll kill _him_." said Nel, her tone considerably darker than her friends were used to. At that moment, she sounded more like a true Espada than ever, and it was somewhat frightening.

Renji felt a cold chill crawl down his spine. It was usually so easy to forget just how dangerous the woman could be, but not now. He didn't doubt her words for a second: if Anrak was gone, she'd either kill Zaraki or die trying.

Then again, if Anrak was dead…Renji thought he might _help_ Nel in fighting Zaraki.

_He'll survive. Neither he or Kagi will go down easily._ came the voice of Chimpette, one half of _Zabimaru_.

_Kagi's scary!_ hissed Hebi the other, younger, half of the spirit.

He decided that Chimpette was right, and that he should have faith in his friend.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to run faster.

* * *

_We come from distant lands, we travel so far…  
__Can you see the bleeding scar?  
__The prizes of life we fail to win,  
__Cause we doubt the power within…_

Zaraki understood _now_, of that Anrak was certain. The captain had barely avoided that last series of attacks, and had discarded his burning haori, letting the black flames greedily devour it. The top half of his shihakushō was ragged now and would soon fall off entirely, and Anrak could see several deep gashes in the exposed skin.

He was also quite pleased to note that there were several lines of seared flesh crisscrossing one another.

That wasn't to say Anrak had pulled ahead in the fight; his chest plate had finally shattered away entirely, including the back piece, and he could feel various cracks throughout the rest of the armor. Blood seeped from a deep gash in his partially-exposed shoulder, and a piece of black steel fell from his right thigh.

He turned his head slightly and spit, tasting some blood as he did so.

Meanwhile, Zaraki was _still_ grinning psychotically.

Anrak charged, and the captain met him head on as they began to exchange blows once more. He felt Zaraki's battered blade shatter his offhand blade and chew it's way through the armor on his left forearm, tearing off a large chunk of black steel.

But in a fight like this, even a broken hilt was useful; Anrak spun the broken sword around into a reverse grip and stabbed downward, impaling Zaraki in the leg with the remaining few inches of the blade.

The larger man roared and knocked Ushii away, taking a wild swing as he stumbled backwards. Anrak felt the blade slice into his chest, nicking bone but not quite breaking it. As he fell, Anrak took a wild swing of his own with his zanpaktou, narrowly missing Zaraki's scalp and instead slicing off three of the numerous spikes the captain kept his hair arranged in.

_Why can't you see what they're doing to me?  
__What we believe in, we rise through the pain!_

Grunting, Anrak picked himself up off the ground as Zaraki pulled the broken hilt out of his thigh and discarded it.

And still, the madman was grinning.

Monster, indeed…

_Rise up with the steel and the power of the sword,  
__Stand up and fight now and forever more!  
__Rise through the night sky with daylight's desire,  
__To be free there must be black fire!_

* * *

After what felt like an eternity, the trio reached the summit of Sōkyoku Hill, skidding to a halt as they took in the sight before them of the two battered warriors standing amidst black flames that were slowly eating anything and everything flammable in the area.

Anrak, Ichigo thought, looked as if he'd been hit by a freight train or two, but somehow he was _still _standing.

The obsidian armor was almost entirely gone: chest, back, shoulders, shins, left forearm and bicep, right bicep… Even the flexible metal waistcoat was in tatters, and the offhand sword was missing, presumably broken in the fight.

He was bleeding from several deep cuts throughout his body, and his left eye was shut as blood poured down his face from a wound in his scalp. The way his chest was heaving suggested several ribs were cracked, possibly broken.

And still he stood.

Zaraki didn't look much better. In fact, the substitute shinigami mused, Zaraki looked like he'd just gone twelve rounds with the world's angriest blender as literally hundreds of gashes and scratches could be seen on his face and body, including a few strips of seared flesh and a ragged wound in his thigh.

And it was so damn hot! The heat made the reiatsu-soaked air even heavier, and there was no trace of snow remaining anywhere on the hilltop. Ichigo felt like the heat was smothering him, and he could feel sweat already forming across his body and quickly being sponged up by his uniform.

Neither man seemed to be bothered by the sweltering heat, nor did they see inclined to stop now that they had an audience as they charged one another again.

For the first dozen or so strikes, no one was able to claim an advantage.

Until Anrak managed to knock Zaraki's blade from his hand, but that advantage vanished in an instant.

The captain managed to catch Anrak's sword with his bare hand as it came down for him, just below the guard, his larger hand swallowing Anrak's entirely.

The smaller shinigami responded with an armored fist to the grinning face, shattering Zaraki's nose, and shattering the remainder of the left gauntlet.

But Kenpachi had managed to rip _Kage Shitsukoi_ from Anrak's grasp, and Ichigo could see the blood groove glowing red.

Oh no… He knew what that meant, knew what was coming as Zaraki brought the blade down towards Anrak's head.

He saw Anrak bring up his right arm to try and block with his forearm, but there was no way to stop that much power with just an arm, even if it _was_ armored.

The scene erupted in a black flash, the ground giving way and forming a crater under the impact of the blow. Zaraki stepped back away from the flame that was still raging in the center of the crater and dropped the sword, the grin fading from his face.

The fight was over. No one could have survived that.

He cast a glance over at Nel, and noticed her eyes had become as dead as the shinigami in the crater, cold and empty…and that scared him more than boiling rage would have.

"Nel-" he began, trying to caution her against doing anything rash, but he was cut off as Anrak came leaping from the flame, slamming his still-armored right fist into Zaraki's face and driving him back.

He looked relatively unscathed from the supposedly-fatal blow, aside from deep cracks now running through the armor on his right arm.

_Of course he's fine. Black fire is his signature; did you really think his own power would burn him?_ asked _Zangetsu_.

Zaraki's smile returned as he staggered backwards, and the spike at Anrak's elbow extended into a nine-inch blade with a wicked curve to it. He roared as he came at the captain, slashing madly with his elbow blade, forcing Zaraki to backpeddle for a moment under the onslaught.

But only for a moment; the captain took a few deep cuts from the blade before finally slamming a fist into Anrak's forearm and shattering the armor and most likely the bone underneath, the blade falling away. Kenpachi caught the broken blade quickly, and thrust it deep into Anrak's left shoulder, sending a spray of crimson into the air.

Anrak roared in pain and staggered backwards, but even then he found the strength to take an open-handed swipe at Zaraki's face with his right hand, which still had the black war talons on his fingertips. Five jagged lines of blood appeared on the left side of Zaraki's face, running from just in front of his ear to his nose as the talons tore into his flesh savagely.

Anrak fell onto his back only a couple of feet away from his zanpaktou as Zaraki retrieved his own blade and began to approach menacingly. Ushii's hand snaked it's way over to the black blade, grasping the hilt as he struggled to get back to his feet.

Ichigo shook his head. This was madness, total madness.

He looked back at Nel, though, and was at least glad to see that some life had returned to her eyes, life and an unspoken joy that Ushii still lived. For a creature that supposedly lacked a heart, he found it interesting that she seemed to care about the other soul reaper so much… But it was interesting in a good way; she seemed happy, and ultimately, that was all Ichigo ever wanted for any of his friends.

Anrak had gotten back to his feet during the momentary distraction, and he and Zaraki were going blade to blade again, each man refusing to simply give up.

Blood flew through the air freely with every other blow, and it was hard to tell which spray was coming from which body. If something didn't give soon, Nel might be robbed of her happiness…

No way. He couldn't let that happen. He reached his right hand back over his shoulder, grasping the hilt of _Zangetsu_. He wasn't going to lose a friend to Zaraki's madness, and he wasn't going to let Nel lose her smile, no matter what it took.

It was at that moment _Kage Shitsukoi _finally shattered, with Anrak stumbling back and falling to the ground once more as his bankai left him, the remaining pieces of black armor turning into wispy black shadows and dissipating into the air.

…and yet, he was _still_ trying to get back up, his right hand still grasping the broken hilt in a death grip as he pushed himself up to a knee. He nearly got up to his feet, but fell once more as the last of his strength began to fade.

Ichigo felt a rush of movement from beside him and he turned his head just in time to see Nel rushing forward, appearing at the wounded man's side in an instant, cradling him protectively.

"It's over…" he could hear her whispering to Anrak, "You don't have to fight anymore… Just stay down and rest now."

"I…can't. I can still…can still fight." he rasped, straining against her grip to get free and stand up, but Nel held him firmly and refused to let go.

Zaraki suddenly appeared over the two of them, glaring down imposingly and gripping the hilt of his zanpaktou tightly.

Ichigo tightened his fist around _Zangetsu's_ hilt, noticing that Nel had slipped one hand down to rest on the hilt of her own _Gamuza_, and Ichigo didn't even need to glance to his other side to know that Renji was preparing to draw _Zabimaru_.

"We're done here." announced Zaraki, much to everyone's relief. "You can't even stand up anymore. No fun killin' a man who can't even fight back."

"…can still fight…" Anrak protested weakly. "…not giving up that easy-"

"Easy? Ha! Ushii, that was the most fun I've had in _years_!" declared Zaraki, laughing. Ichigo noticed he was wobbling as he stood, legs apparently unsteady from both exhaustion and blood loss. Kenpachi held up his own zanpaktou to examine it, and Ichigo could see deep cracks spider-webbing their way throughout the battered blade.

Had the fight gone on much longer, his sword might have been broken as well.

"I'm impressed, Ushii…" said the captain, the praise sounding genuine.

How unfortunate it was, then, that Anrak had already passed out and never heard him.


	23. Hold Me

**Hold Me**

"I want a rematch."

Anrak cracked an eye open and turned his head to stare at the injured figure laying a few feet to his right.

"You're joking." he said.

"Dead serious; that was fun, and I want a rematch."

"You're insane." groaned the wounded shinigami, turning his head back to look up at the sky.

"Oh, come on," wheezed Kagi as she propped herself up on her elbow, "you enjoyed it, too. Just admit it."

"I ache. _That's_ what I'll admit to."

"_You_ ache? You're not the one who was shattered into nearly a dozen pieces." sniffled the spirit, crawling her way over to his side.

Anrak was unconscious, he knew this, and once again he was left inside the inner world with Kagi while his body lay in the infirmary recovering from his injuries, but he didn't mind; aside from Kagi's insistence on a rematch with Kenpachi, it was tranquil in the inner world, and the serenity was a welcome change of pace from the recent battle.

"We can beat him next time." said Kagi, drawing ever closer.

"There's not going to _be_ a next time. One fight, that was all. It's over. Done. Finished."

Kagi finally made it over to him and crawled on top of his prone form, resting her head on his chest.

"At least admit that you enjoyed it. A fight like that is more fulfilling to both of us than planting crops could _ever_ be." she urged softly.

For a moment, he let her words hang in the air as he considered them

"Alright, maybe on some level, some very strange level that is most likely _your_ fault, I did enjoy myself a little." he agreed at last. Kagi grinned up at him, blue eyes sparkling in the moonlight as she clearly took some measure of joy in his response.

"I know you did, lover; I just needed to hear you say it."

"Please stop calling me that." Anrak sighed.

"Never." was her defiant reply, though he hadn't really expected anything less from _Kage Shitsukoi._

He didn't bother to rebuke her for refusing to cooperate, instead choosing to enjoy the momentary silence. He closed his eyes, and imagined it was someone else lying with him instead, and a smile slowly crept across his face.

"Stop wishing I was _her_." growled Kagi angrily. "I'm here, she's not."

The dream shattered, Anrak opened his eyes and peered down at Kagi, who was still using his chest as a pillow.

"We've been over this before; we can't-"

"I'm not talking about _that_, you moron; can't you just enjoy being here with _me_? Can't you just hold me for once in your life?" she spat bitterly.

Her words stung, and Anrak found himself recalling that she had once referred to their bankai as her "embrace," and he remembered how freely she offered him that embrace whenever he needed it. Could he truly be so selfish as to not return the favor now that she lay with him, injured and broken?

"I'm sorry…" he murmured, wrapping his arms around the lithe spirit and holding her gently.

"I know you are…" she whispered, nuzzling her head into his chest.

"We put up a good fight, I think. Thank you for being my strength." he offered, and her smile returned.

"We put up a _hell_ of a fight." she corrected with pride. "Zaraki understands now. He was impressed, you know…he even said so, but you'd already passed out."

Anrak allowed himself a smug grin upon hearing that they'd impressed the captain. It didn't matter that he hadn't won; it was victory enough to have Zaraki acknowledge his strength.

"At least we won some respect, if not the fight." he said.

"Respect?" snorted Kagi. "Yoruichi will call you a moron when she finds out, you idiot. Soifon still will always hate your guts, Captain Kuchiki is always going to see you as being little more than a peasant, Hitsugaya is _still_ harboring a grudge from getting reeled in like a scrawny, malnourished minnow, and Yamamoto's probably already forgotten that we even _exist_."

"…thanks, Kagi, really. I feel _so_ much better now." Anrak said dryly.

"Zaraki respects you now, though, and I'm sure most of the other shinigami will hold you in high regard."

"Are you trying to make me feel better or worse here? It's like you can't make up your mind." he asked in annoyance.

"Better, of course… I just want to make it clear that some people won't give a damn what we accomplish." she stated matter-of-factly. "But at least you'll always have me and the respect of your idiotic friends."

There was just a hint of bitterness in her words that made it quite clear which 'idiotic friend' in particular she was referring to.

"_She _was worried about you, again." Kagi continued, venom working it's way back into her voice once more. "She's out there right now, waiting for you to wake up."

"Is that your way of telling me that it's time to go?" he asked gently, and Kagi wrapped her arms around him possessively.

"Just hold me for a few more minutes." she said softly, almost pleading with him. Anrak smiled down at Kagi and hugged her tightly.

"Hai, Kagi; a few more minutes it is, then."


	24. Just Say No!

**Just Say No!**

The world was blurry.

And dim.

Very dim.

Groaning slightly, Anrak blinked a couple of times to clear his vision, and found himself again in the infirmary. It was dark outside, with only a single lamp illuminating the little room, and there, in a chair beside said lamp, was Neliel.

Judging by the rise and fall of her chest, she was sound asleep, and Anrak wondered just how long she'd been there.

_She's been with you since before you passed out this morning, fool._

Oh.

He tried to sit up in his bed, but his body refused to cooperate and instead answered his commands with sharp pains that made him hiss loudly.

"Kuso." he swore under his breath, lying back and staring up at the ceiling.

"Good morning to you, too."

He raised his head again at the sound of Nel's voice just in time to see her rising from her chair and coming over to his bedside.

"Sorry…I didn't mean to wake you." he apologized.

"Don't be. It's only seven, too early to be sleeping, anyway. I've been sitting in here since this morning, and just…dozed off." she smiled, giving a yawn and stretching a little.

He struggled to sit up again, and Nel gently helped him, adjusting the hospital bed for him before dragging her own chair closer to the bedside to sit with him. There was a long and uncomfortable silence between them before she finally spoke again.

"An, why didn't you tell me?"

"You were here when Zaraki issued the challenge." Anrak defended himself. "You knew it was coming."

"That's not what I mean, and you know it. Why didn't you tell me _when_ it was? Why didn't you let me be there?" she asked softly, and Anrak almost thought he could hear an ounce of hurt in her voice, and he found that to be heart-wrenching.

"I didn't want to worry you, or get you involved. I'm sorry, Nel." he offered remorsefully, and Nel sighed before giving him a soft, forgiving smile.

"I'll let it slide _this_ time." she said, leaning forward and cupping his face gently with her hand. "But I don't want there to be a _next_ time."

"Hai, Nel; it won't happen again." Anrak muttered as he leaned forward himself, suddenly feeling drawn to the full, perfect lips that were so very, very close.

"Baka!" came a new voice, punctuated by a sharp slap to the back of his skull that drove Anrak's forehead into Nel's mask roughly.

He groaned, reaching his left hand up to hold his now-aching forehead and his right hand around to hold the back of his head. Nel was unhurt at least, and she was now glaring daggers at the intruder as Anrak turned around to see who would dare assault him in the hospital…

"You're an idiot, Ushii." seethed Captain Soifon, tiny hands clenched into fists. "Lady Yoruichi is unfortunately not able to be here at the moment, and asked me to express her…_displeasure_ at your idiocy."

"I sincerely doubt she instructed you to hit me…" complained Anrak, shaking his head slightly to clear the ringing.

"She didn't specify _how_ to express her disappointment." admitted Soifon, but there wasn't even the slightest inkling of an apology in her voice. "However, since you've managed to upset her, I think this is the appropriate response."

With that, she smacked him upside the head again.

"That's enough!" declared Nel, interposing herself between Anrak and the petite yet belligerent captain.

Soifon ignored her, instead focusing solely on the bed-ridden shinigami.

"Next time you do something so foolish and upset Lady Yoruichi, I _will_ kill you." she promised darkly, and Anrak didn't doubt her for a second.

But…

"How do you think Lady Yoruichi will feel _then_?" he shot back as the captain turned to leave.

Soifon paused as the doorway, tightening her fists further in frustration, but she had no response for him. She stood there visibly fuming for a second before finally storming out, muttering one last "idiot" under her breath as she went.

"I just can't catch a break, can I?" sighed Anrak, leaning back against the mattress as Nel continued to glare at the now-vacant doorway for a couple of seconds more before returning to her seat.

"She shouldn't be treating injured people like that… If she touches you again,-"

"That's Soifon for you; she's just one big ray of sunshine, isn't she?" asked Anrak with a wry smile. Nel just blinked at him, confused.

"Sunshine? I don't get it…" she said, clearly puzzled. Anrak just reached over and grabbed her hand, squeezing gently.

"Don't worry about it, Nel…" he said, smiling. "Now, where were we?"

She blushed slightly and leaned in close again.

"I think we were right about-"

"Hey, Takk, I found his room! He's down this way!" came another voice from the doorway, interrupting them yet again and causing Nel to pull back abruptly, her cheeks flushing even redder than before.

Anrak just gave a long-suffering sigh and turned to greet Satsu and Takk with a forced smile, all the while imagining his hands around their necks…

* * *

It was Thursday evening, and Anrak found himself alone in his hospital room for the first time. He'd managed to convince Nel that since his injuries weren't life-threatening anymore there was no need to stay with him all day, and while she had been in and out a few times over the last twenty-four hours, he'd usually had someone else to keep him company while she was away.

But not now.

He didn't mind it too much, really; a little peace and quiet wasn't exactly a bad thing.

Renji has left just a little while ago, shortly after Anrak had mentioned that it was the prime opportunity to make a break for it. The redhead had gone pale and suddenly "remembered" that he had somewhere else to be.

Then again, after what happened last time, Anrak supposed he couldn't blame his friend.

Ah well, maybe by tomorrow evening he'd have enough strength to walk out on his own, and then…

A loud commotion out in the hall brought his thoughts to a screeching halt, and he glared at the door in annoyance. Who in the hell would be making so much noise in a hospital at this time in the evening?

_That's a stupid question, even for you._

Scowling at Kagi's remark, he climbed out of bed to go investigate.

Or rather, he tried to.

His feet touched the floor and he attempted to stand, only to find that his legs were still too weak and noodle-like to support him, and he fell forward, barely catching himself with his hands before smashing his face into the unforgiving ground.

Still, he wasn't one to give up so easily.

He grabbed the empty chair that was sitting near the bed and used it to pull himself back up to his feet, and he stood there for a few moments holding the chair for support while he waited for his legs to stop feeling numb. Finally he released the chair and stumbled over to the nearest wall, placing one hand on it and leaning on it heavily to brace himself as he made his way to the door.

Anrak finally reached his destination and poked his head out in the hall to see his captain trying to leave his own room, with a half-dozen medics from Squad 4 attempting to reason with him.

Yeah, like _that_ was going to work…

"Get out of my way, damn it! I'm fine!" roared Zaraki, clumsily swatting at one of the medics who barely managed to dodge his massive hand.

"Captain Zaraki, sir, it is up to Captain Unohana to decide when you're well enough to be discharged-" sputtered one of the medics.

"Screw that! I'm just fine!"

"But sir, your injuries haven't completely healed yet… Please, just go back inside and lay down, and-"

"The hell I will!"

Anrak smirked at the sight before him. Yeah, he should have known Zaraki would be the source of all the noise.

_Told you, baka._

And then, a thought occurred to him…

Zaraki had all the medics on duty distracted, and Anrak had a clear pathway to the front door.

His smirk degenerated into a devious grin as he stepped out into the hall, and, still bracing himself against the wall, began to hobble towards the front door as fast as he possibly could.

He was halfway there when the front door opened and Enjeru walked in, presumably on his way to visit his supposedly bed-ridden friend. Anrak thought the look on the other shinigami's face upon seeing his friend hobbling towards him was absolutely priceless.

"What the hell are you doing out of bed?" demanded Enjeru. "There's no way your wounds have healed yet!"

"I'm making a break for it." Anrak stated with pride.

"You're crazy! You're in no shape to-"

"Ushii! Don't you _dare_ leave this hospital before I do!" bellowed Zaraki from the other end of the hall, having apparently spotted the fleeing soul reaper.

Anrak glanced over his shoulder just in time to see that Zaraki's yelling had managed to alert the medics to his own escape attempt, and now two of them were rushing down the corridor towards him. Anrak whirled back around to face Enjeru and grabbed him by front of his shihakushō.

"Get me out of here!" he hissed.

Enjeru looked at Anrak, then at the charging medics, and then back at his friend again before giving a resigned sigh.

"Kisutera is going to _kill _me for this…"

With that, he grabbed the other shinigami and bolted for the door.

* * *

"A trip to the world of the living?" asked Neliel, a note of excitement creeping into her voice.

"Yep!" declared Rangiku Matsumoto, beaming. "The last couple of months have been hard on everyone, and I think a nice trip to the human world for a day will do us some good."

"I've never been to the world of the living before… What's it like?" said Nel, and Rangiku just beamed even brighter.

"Oh, it's wonderful! There's so many stores and shops to go to, and the clothes there are just _fabulous_! Tell her, Rukia!"

The smaller, raven-haired shinigami set her teacup down and looked at her two friends.

"Well, I'm not as big on shopping as you are, but yes, the world of the living is an amazing place. I was nervous there first time I was sent there, but it was actually quite fun."

"It'll be great!" added Rangiku. "I've even managed to convince the captain to come along with us."

"How did you pull _that_ off?" asked Rukia.

"He needs a break but won't take one himself, so I told him that if he didn't go along to supervise me, I'd buy everything in sight and store it all in his office."

Nel giggled, imagining the pint-sized captain of squad 10 opening the door to his office one morning only to be buried alive by an avalanche of women's clothing.

"Besides, starting Monday, the captains are going to be having a series of meetings all week long to hammer out the future of the Soul Society, how we're going to deal with the manpower shortage, what to do about the open officer positions, and a bunch of other stuff the captain wouldn't tell me about. If I can't get Captain Hitsugaya to take a break _now_, we might not have another chance for weeks, maybe months."

"Ichigo will be coming with us." added Rukia. "He knows more about the human world than the rest of us combined, so we'll need him."

"Are you _sure_ that's the only reason you're bringing him?" teased Rangiku with a devilish smile, forcing the younger woman to blush.

"Quite sure." Rukia declared assertively, but not even Nel believed her.

"And what about you, Nel? Are you bringing Annie along?" teased Rangiku.

"He doesn't like being called Annie…" she said automatically, and Rangiku just laughed.

"Oh, he's Annie to me. He's always been Annie and he will _always_ be Annie. I've called him that for years… I think I'm the only one he lets get away with it, and that's only because he got tired of arguing with me."

"Oh… Well, I'd have to ask…"

"Then let's go ask him!" chirped Rangiku, hopping to her feet. "No time like the present, right?"

"It's a little late for me; I'm going to go home get some sleep." said Rukia as she stood up.

Nel and Rangiku bid the smaller woman good night and headed off down the darkened streets of the Seireitei for the infirmary over in Division 4 before Nel stopped for a moment, and pursed her lips, thinking.

"Something wrong?" asked Rangiku.

"I doubt he's even in the hospital anymore." said Nel finally. "He's been left unsupervised for too long."

Rangiku just laughed.

"Ah, that's Annie for you. And Zaraki. And Ikkaku. And Yumichika. And all of Squad 11, actually…"

* * *

Enjeru helped Anrak into his quarters and sat him on the edge of the bed, looking him over.

"This was a bad idea… Look, you're bleeding again." observed Enjeru, indicating the growing red spot on the bandages covering Anrak's chest.

"Bah, it's just a flesh wound. My footlocker over there…bring me the bandages in it so I can change them out."

Enjeru rolled his eyes, but fetched the bandages anyway.

"Kisutera really _is_ likely to kill me for helping you escape, you know. She's complained about your squad ditching early before plenty of times, and when she finds out I was an accomplice…" said Enjeru, referring to the green-eyed medic that he'd become involved with in off-duty hours.

"I'm sure you'll be able to talk your way out of it." said Anrak nonchalantly as he began to peel off the bloodied bandages.

"Maybe, but what about Nel? I heard about what she did to Renji last time he helped you escape."

"You worry too much. It'll be fine."

"You sure about that?" asked Enjeru, stepping out of the way as Anrak tossed his old bandages into the wastebasket.

"Pretty sure." he replied, taking a washcloth and cleaning the last bit of blood off his chest.

"I'm not willing to bet my safety on 'pretty sure.' I'm getting the hell out of here before she comes looking for you." said Enjeru, slipping out the door and vanishing into the night. Anrak just shook his head.

"Sissy."

* * *

As Nel listened to Rangiku describe the human world in more detail as they walked, she grew more and more excited to go. It all sounded so very fantastic and wonderful, almost like a fairytale. Of course, Rangiku kept going back to this thing called a 'mall' and all the shops it had, but Nel was less interested in clothes shopping and more concerned with seeing all the sights she could.

Hadn't An said he'd been there a few times before? Maybe the two of them could go off sight-seeing on their own while Rangiku and the others went shopping…

They were just entering Division 11 when they encountered Enjeru leaving, and the Squad 7 shinigami turned pale when he saw the two of them, suddenly looking very, very guilty of something.

"Hi, Enjeru." said Rangiku, offering a smile. "What are you doing all the way over here?"

He hesitated in his answer, eyeing Nel warily, and Nel narrowed her own eyes suspiciously.

"Ah…Just delivering something to Zaraki from Captain Komamura." he sputtered lamely, and neither woman truly believed him.

"Really?" asked Nel quietly, taking a step forward.

"Oh, look at the time!" exclaimed the blond soul reaper. "I really should be getting back to my own division now. Good night!"

With that, he shunpoed off without another word.

"He seems to be acting kind of odd tonight…" observed Rangiku suspiciously.

Nel just shrugged it off and smiled at her friend.

"I'm sure it's nothing. Come on, we're almost there."

* * *

Anrak had just finished re-bandaging himself when there was a knock at his door. He was quite sure it wasn't Enjeru again, as he'd been in a hurry to leave, and the fact that the door wasn't being actively kicked in told him it wasn't Captain Zaraki. He went through the list of possible visitors as he made his way to the door, but in reality, he knew it could only be _one_ person.

He was quite surprised to see Rangiku with that one person.

"Hi, An!" greeted Nel cheerfully as she entered with the lieutenant of Squad 10 in tow.

"Hi, Annie!" sang Rangiku, causing Anrak to scowl at the nickname.

"So, what do I owe this visit to?" asked Anrak, stepping back to make room for the two visitors in the cramped quarters.

"Right to the point, huh?" asked Rangiku, sounding almost offended. "No small talk?"

"Hello, Neliel. Hello, Rangiku. My, what a nice night we're having. Have you two changed your hair? Are those new clothes?" he said dryly.

"You're more fun when you're drinking." sniffed Rangiku.

"Sorry." Anrak offered. "I'm just a little tired and all."

"Understandable; you shouldn't even be out of the hospital."

"You don't look like you're in any shape to make it all the way from the infirmary to here on your own… How'd you escape _this_ time?" asked Nel.

"You're right, I had help. But I'm not naming any names." said Anrak defiantly.

Nel managed to keep her face completely passive at that, but Rangiku had to turn away slightly as she bit back a knowing grin.

Enjeru was _so_ busted…

"Anyway," began Nel, her face softening and her usual smile returning, "we came to ask you to go to the world of the living with us Saturday. We're going shopping, and it sounds like a bunch of fun."

Anrak simply stared at her in silence for a moment before bursting out into laughter, clutching at his wounded chest as he did so.

"Hahaha! Ow, oh God, haha! Ow, haha!" he wheezed. "Go shopping? With Rangiku, the most notorious shopaholic in the entire Soul Society? The woman who has a reputation for turning the men who accompany her on such trips into her own personal pack mules? Haha, _hell_ no!"

"Oh, it won't be _that_ bad." protested Rangiku, making a point to lean forward and give him a good view of her ample cleavage.

It was a tactic she used anytime she wanted to con a male into doing something, a tactic that worked on virtually every man she encountered, and had worked on Anrak numerous times in the past.

He found it surprisingly easy to tell her "no."

She was as beautiful as ever, there was no doubt of that, and Anrak was quite sure that a year or two ago he would have been falling over himself to do whatever she wanted.

"Please?" asked Nel. "I really think it'll be fun!"

"No." he said after a moment's hesitation.

He'd hesitated for only half a second, but it was enough to give Rangiku an idea.

"Time-out!" she declared, grabbed Nel and pulling her away into the corner of the room to huddle together and strategize.

Anrak just rolled his eyes and waited, turning to face the opposite wall

"Okay, here's the plan…" Rangiku whispered fiercely as she reached over and began to unbutton the top of Nel's jacket.

"What are you _doing_?" cried Nel, batting her hands away.

"Trust me!" said Rangiku, reaching back over and undoing a couple of more buttons and spreading open the top to reveal _almost_ as much skin as Rangiku's own top did.

She gave Nel a little shove in Anrak's direction, positive that this would work.

"Please, An?" asked Nel once more.

Anrak turned, the word "no" already on his lips, but it quickly died there when he saw Nel.

_**Oh…wow.**_

_Don't give in, baka! Stay strong! Look up! Eye contact!_

He gulped and forced himself to look Nel in the eyes.

"No." he managed to say at last.

Neliel turned back to Rangiku, dejected.

"It didn't work! I thought you said this would work!"

Rangiku just waved her concerns away.

"It'll work… We just need to turn up the heat a notch." she said, reaching over and undoing a few more buttons. Nel turned red with embarrassment as the other woman undid her jacket for her, feeling very uncomfortable.

"There, that should do it." said Rangiku finally. Then, as an afterthought, she reached over and undid another button anyway. "Now, just squeeze them together with your arms like this, and be sure to pout when you ask him. Push your bottom lip out as far as you can. And flutter your eyelashes!"

Nel exited the little huddle and approached Anrak nervously again, adjusting her bosom as Rangiku had suggested before speaking to him.

"Please?" she asked, giving her best pout.

From her corner, Rangiku was proud of her new student.

Anrak tried to look Nel in the eyes this time, he really did, but…

_**My god, two more buttons and they'd be falling out!**_

_Focus!_ hissed Kagi. _Don't fall for it!_

"Please?" repeated Nel, but Anrak was having trouble finding his voice.

_No. Just say no. That's all it takes. No, no, no, no, no!_

"Okay." he choked out meekly.

Rangiku cheered.

Kagi cursed.

Nel glomped him.

"Thank you, An!" she gushed, hugging him too tightly once again. "It'll be great, you'll see!"

Of course, the only thing he was seeing right then was the world turning black. He reached a hand out for Rangiku, silently pleading for help, and the strawberry-blond stood there for a moment grinning at the scene before intervening and pulling Nel off the wounded man.

"Easy, Nel." she said as she pulled the green-haired woman away. "You don't want to put him back in the hospital before Saturday, do you?"

"Sorry…" said Nel sheepishly, blushing as she finally remembered to re-button her top.

Anrak just lay on the floor, gazing up at the ceiling breathlessly.

"It's okay…" he panted. "I'm fine."

"Anyway, we should let you get some rest now." said Rangiku, stepping outside and pulling Nel with her. "Good night, Annie!"

He just waved goodbye weakly from his spot on the floor as the door slid shut.

* * *

"See that, Nel?" asked Rangiku as they exited Division 11. "That's the secret to getting them to do whatever we want; a little skin gets a _lot_ of results."

"Maybe…" said Nel, blushing again, "But I'm not as comfortable about doing…_that_ as you are."

Rangiku shrugged.

"Your loss; you've got the assets to pull it off _almost_ as well as I do." she said before noticing that Nel was turning to go in another direction.

"You're not going to your quarters yet?" she asked, and Nel just smiled sweetly as she cracked her knuckles.

"I have someone I need to speak to first. Good night, Rangiku!"

* * *

It had been a long day for Enjeru Masamune. The duties of a lieutenant were far more taxing than he'd ever expected, especially given all the recent excitement in the Soul Society. He was looking forward to going to bed and getting a good night's sleep.

Hell, he might even sleep in a little in the morning.

He hadn't expected to get drawn into one of Anrak's half-baked escapes from the infirmary, but at least it had all turned out okay; he's successfully avoided Nel and her over-protective wrath, and he'd already talked with Kisutera and diffused _that _situation.

She'd been pretty upset when she found out about his part in helping a patient escape, but after he'd explained the situation to her, she had calmed down and forgiven him on the principle that he had been helping a friend.

Next time, though, she'd warned Enjeru that he had better escort Anrak back to his assigned room and alert a medic to his escape attempt.

"At least I got off better than poor Renji…" he muttered under his breath as he prepared to turn in for the night.

A knock at the door startled him. Who could possibly be visiting at_ this _time of night?

With as late as it was, he decided that it could only be his captain or someone else from within the squad. Something important had to be going on. Surely that was the case…

He slid the door open, and paled when he saw who it was.

"Ah, crap…"

*POW!*


	25. Bookstores, Malls, and NinjaFish?

**Bookstores, Malls, and…NinjaFish?**

Saturday morning in the human world was cold, very cold. The weather in the Soul Society was already getting warmer, but the human world was still trapped firmly in winter's grasp. Anrak shivered slightly and pulled the coat tighter around his _gigai_, or faux body.

At least he wasn't alone in his suffering; Ichigo, Rukia, and Rangiku all appeared to be freezing as well. Captain Hitsugaya appeared to be quite comfortable, not that anyone was surprised by _that_. Neliel seemed to be unaffected by the cold, but Anrak figured that was only because she was too busy playing tourist to even notice the weather.

The group was walking towards downtown Karakura and Rangiku's beloved mall, and every step of the way, Nel found something new to marvel at; cars, electronic signs, an airplane flying far overhead, a vending machine…

For Anrak and the others it was all old news; each of them had been here enough times to be used to everything, and for Ichigo, these were all part of his daily life. For Nel, it was all new and exciting, and as much as Anrak didn't want to be out here in the cold or going shopping with Rangiku, he was happy to see Neliel having fun.

Almost as if she'd sensed his thoughts, she turned to look at him with a big, cheesy grin on her face as she squeezed his hand.

"See? This isn't so bad, is it?" she asked.

_**Yet…**_ he thought sourly, imagining the multitudes of crap Rangiku would heap upon them all before the day was over with. Still, rather than say it, he simply smiled back at her and hoped to not end up playing the role of a pack mule before day's end.

The five soul reapers and one arrancar were walking in pairs, with Nel and Anrak bringing up the rear of the pack and Rangiku in the lead impatiently dragging Hitsugaya long with her towards the mall, and if the expression on his face were any indication, the small captain would have preferred to be _anywhere_ else at the moment.

Ichigo and Rukia were in the middle of their little party, and Ichigo suddenly called for everyone to stop in front of a small shop.

"It's cold out and we're still a good kilometer or two away from the mall. Might as well grab something to warm us up." he announced.

"Sake?" chirped Rangiku brightly and Anrak felt his own hopes soar. A little alcohol would make the impending headache _so_ much more bearable…

"Coffee." corrected Kurosaki, ushering everyone inside despite Rangiku's drawn-out whine at it not being sake.

Anrak was familiar with coffee and he had to concede that a hot cup of coffee would probably be better than sake in the long run.

He let the other four go ahead of himself and Nel, making sure she had plenty of time to peruse the menu and decide what she wanted. They reached the counter, and before he could even open his mouth to order his strong, black coffee, Neliel blurted out an order for two hot chocolates.

Oh yes, this day was off to a positively _wonderful_ start…

Forcing a smile rather than correcting her, he dropped the money onto the counter and grabbed his drink, wishing once more he'd just stayed home._  
_

Kisuke had been good enough to exchange their Seireitei money for human cash and as Anrak took a sip of his hot chocolate, he hoped he'd get to spend at least _some_ of that money on something he actually wanted.

He wondered how things were going back in the Soul Society right about now…

* * *

Renji was bored as hell and equally irritated; like the others, he'd been given the day off, but unlike Anrak, he had no one to spend it with.

Ikkaku was out on patrol with Yumichika, and with Hisagi on-duty as well, it meant all of his usual drinking buddies were indisposed, except for…

"Enjeru!" he called out, approaching the new lieutenant of Squad 7 with a big grin on his face. "What say we go hit the bar tonight?"

"I'd love to, Renji, but I'm kinda taking Kisutera out for dinner this evening…" said his friend apologetically, and Renji's face fell.

"Ah, not you, too!" groaned the redhead. "Does _everyone_ have plans other than me?"

"Sorry." said Enjeru, heading off. "Any other time would be great, just…not tonight. I'll catch you later, okay?"

"Yeah, later…" said Renji gruffly, but the other shinigami was already out of earshot.

This wouldn't do. The Seireitei was a big place and he had lots of friends; surely they weren't _all_ busy today…

* * *

They could see the mall now and Rangiku was getting giddy with anticipation of shopping until everyone else dropped. Anrak's sense of dread had reached a record high and he found himself wishing it was the walls of Los Noches he was staring at once more.

"That's a _book _store?" asked Nel off to his left and he turned to see her staring at a massive building whose sign proclaimed to have a million books, just across the street from them.

"Yeah." said Ichigo. "Part of some major world-wide chain."

"It's huge…" breathed Nel. "We _have_ to go there!"

_That_ was at least something Anrak could agree with, but Rangiku had already begun protesting.

"Who cares about stupid books? I mean, the mall is right over there and-"

"Bookstore first." announced Hitsugaya, stalking off towards the mammoth store and effectively ending the debate.

The group hurried across the street, following Hitsugaya's lead as he disappeared into the store, but the captain had already vanished again by the time they got inside.

"Where did he go?" asked Rukia before Ichigo, being the tallest of the group, managed to spot his trademark snow-white hair just barely peaking over a bookshelf.

"He's in the manga section… Who'd have guessed Tōshirō was a fan of manga?" said a disbelieving Ichigo.

"Oh, yeah!" said Rangiku. "He _loves_ the stuff. He's actually got an idea for his own manga, and, you wouldn't know it, but he's a _really_ good artist. He just never has time to work on it with all the stupid paperwork he has to do for the division."

"You know, if a certain lieutenant were to help him with that paperwork, he might have more time to work on his story…" suggested Anrak dryly.

"Ooh, look; fashion magazines!" said Rangiku, dashing off as if she hadn't heard a word.

Anrak just sighed and headed off to find where Neliel had wandered off to.

Elsewhere in the store, Rukia was browsing through the magazines as Ichigo approached her, a book in hand.

"Here, Rukia." he said, offering it to her. "I saw this, and instantly thought of you. I'll even buy it for you."

She smiled and accepted the book, thanking him for his thoughtfulness as she glanced down and read the cover…

_Drawing for Dummies._

A loud *WHOP!* echoed through the store, and Anrak looked up from his selection to see Ichigo on the ground, clutching his head as Rukia stood over him wielding a book menacingly.

"Not so funny _now_, is it?" she barked at the downed teenager.

Anrak just buried his nose back into his book and tried to pretend like he didn't know either of them as they began to bicker.

After a few minutes, the noise from Ichigo and Rukia died down, and Anrak had begun to relax as he skimmed through the fantasy books. There were more books in this one aisle than most of the so-called bookstores in the Rukon had in their entire shop!

"This…this is wrong." muttered Neliel off at the other end of the aisle. Concerned, he headed towards her.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"I'm the heartless monster from Hueco Mundo, the land of eternal darkness… There's a lot about the Soul Society and the human world I don't fully know and understand yet, but there is one thing I _do_ know…"

"Okay…and what is that, Neliel?"

"Vampires do _not_ sparkle!" she cried loudly, garnering stares from every other patron in the store.

Anrak blinked, confused by her outburst, and carefully plucked the book from her hands and placed it back on the shelf.

"I know, Nel, I know… Let's just go look at something else, okay?"

"But it's just…it's _wrong_! How can anyone-"

"Nel, pay no attention to authors; most of them are mentally disturbed in some form or fashion, and they alter things to suit their own bizarre tastes." explained the shinigami, trying to calm her down.

"Even…?" asked Nel, inexplicably glancing upwards at something unseen.

"_Especially_ him." affirmed Anrak, leading her towards the other end of the aisle.

The rest of their visit to the bookstore came and went without incident, and Anrak was at least pleased to walk out of the store with a few new novels concerning the adventures of a red-haired rurouni and a vampire hunter known simply as 'D.' Nel had managed to find a few books herself that she didn't have any complaints about, and Hitsugaya surprised everyone by showing up at the counter with an armload of a dozen manga books and a sketch pad.

As he exited the bookstore carrying the sack containing his and Nel's purchases, Anrak couldn't help but look at the mall ahead with a sense of dread…

* * *

Renji's latest attempt to find a drinking buddy had gone down in flames once again.

He'd caved in and finally went over to Division 5 to find Satsu and Takk; while they weren't _close_ friends, he felt they'd bonded enough during the battle in Los Noches and in the time he'd spent helping them master their respective shikai releases to hang out. Surely they'd be up for a little bar-hopping tonight…

But no, he was informed that they were out on patrol in the Rukon, and wouldn't be back for another couple of hours.

He could have waited for them, and he probably _should_ have, but his impatience got the better of him, and he'd left Division 5 in a huff. There had to be someone, _anyone_ who wasn't too busy to hang out…

And that was when he spotted Hanatarō…

Like a vulture, Renji swooped in and appeared at the timid medic's side in an instant, scaring the younger man half to death.

Hanatarō fell to the ground with a yell, bug-eyed and clutching at his chest as if he were going to have a heart-attack over Renji's sudden appearance, but once the initial panic wore off and he recognized that it _wasn't_ another Squad 11 goon here to bash his head in, he calmed down.

"O-o-oh…Lieutenant Abarai, I'm sorry! You kinda scared me there…" he offered apologetically as he got back to his feet and Renji just waved it off.

"You're too nervous, Hana." said Renji, shortening the smaller man's name into a much more casual nickname. "When's the last time we ever just hung out and talked?"

"Well…never, really."

"What do you say we change that? Come on, I'll take you to my favorite bar. First round is on me."

"I don't know, Lieutenant…I've never actually had sake before…"

"And I think it should stay that way, Hanatarō." said a polite yet firm voice from behind them. Renji turned and found Captain Unohana standing there, suddenly looking very much like a disapproving mother.

She still wore that polite smile that she always had, but something about her voice warned Renji not to try and argue the point with her. Defeated, he politely wished the captain and Hanatarō both a good evening and left, silently cursing his luck, or lack thereof.

* * *

It had only taken three hours after setting foot in the mall for all three males to end up overburdened with merchandise and Anrak was now thoroughly convinced that malls were evil.

Perhaps the Soul Society should declare war on them instead of the hollows…

Hitsugaya, being both a captain and the smallest member of their party, got off the easiest with only six sacks on top of his own sack of books. Kurosaki was struggling to carry twelve sacks that were overflowing and Anrak wasn't far behind with a grand total of ten bags.

As Rangiku and the other women hurriedly dashed into another shop, the three exhausted males plopped themselves down on a bench outside.

"Never again." swore Ichigo. "I am never, _ever_ letting Rukia con me into this again."

"Amen to that." agreed Anrak readily. "Next time, I'm just going to shut my eyes and say no."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow at that, begging the question of "what the hell are you talking about?"

"Rangiku's been teaching Nel the fine art of manipulating men." sighed the shinigami.

That was all that needed to be said, really, as Ichigo had encountered Rangiku's methods of persuasion a few times himself. Both men turned to look at Hitsugaya.

"Say, Tōshirō, how did _you_ get pulled into this?" asked Ichigo, and immediately the temperature dropped about three degrees.

"Let's not discuss that." answered the captain bitterly before adding, "And that's _Captain_ Hitsugaya to you!"

Ichigo rolled his eyes and looked back at the pile of sacks scattered around their feet.

"Hard to believe three women can buy so much…" he muttered.

"Three? All of Nel's crap is in this _one _sack with her books." said Anrak, nudging a solitary bag with his foot.

Ichigo frowned at that.

"Well, only two of these bags are Rukia's, so that means the _other_ twenty-three belong to-"

"Rangiku!" snarled Hitsugaya angrily, and the temperature plummeted again.

Oh yes, a wonderful trip indeed…

Quietly, Anrak pulled out his Soul Pager, a device that looked and operated very much like a human's cell phone save for it's ability to track the movements of nearby hollows. He entered the number for the pager that Takk was carrying with him on patrol today and sent his friend a text-message with five simple words:

**Get me out of here!**

* * *

Takk had just entered the Seireitei from a long patrol out in the Rukon with his brother in tow when his soul pager went off. Scowling, he pulled it out from inside his shihakushō and flipped it open, wondering what the hell it could be. If it was another order to go wander around aimlessly and investigate the reports of drunkards again, then _someone_ was going to get an earful…

He was very surprised to see the message had came from Anrak.

He nudged Satsu with his elbow and showed him the message.

"Get me out of here, huh? Wasn't he going to the human world today?" asked Satsu.

"Yeah, to that 'mall' shopping center thingy with Rangiku…" said Takk, shuddering at the mere thought of _ever_ going shopping with the infamous Rangiku Matsumoto.

"Uh oh… What do we do? What _can_ we do?"

They looked at each other for a long minute, pondering the question before them.

"Squad 12!" the duo announced simultaneously, and off they dashed to visit the Department of Research and Development.

* * *

"I can't believe _this _is how you spend your Saturday nights…" complained Renji. "This has got to be the lamest hobby _ever_ in the history of mankind."

Uryū Ishida looked up from his sewing, eye twitching in annoyance.

"If you don't like it, you're _more_ than welcome to leave…" he growled.

Renji wiped the blood off the end of his gigai's index finger from where he'd accidentally jabbed himself yet again trying to imitate the Quincy, ignoring the venom in Ishida's words.

He'd thought about hanging out with Kisuke at first, but then he'd realized that the former captain would probably have him doing work around the shop before too long and Renji wasn't about to spend his day off actually working. He'd considered Sado briefly, but 'Chad' as Ichigo called him, was a very quiet individual, and a bit dull for Renji's tastes.

He'd briefly entertained the notion of visiting Orihime, but his stomach had begun to get queasy almost immediately; while the human girl was as nice as they came, her idea of fun was coming up with new and exotic recipes and getting other people to try them.

Unfortunately, the woman was quite possibly the _worst _chef ever born, and only Rangiku seemed able to actually stomach her cooking.

And so, he found himself in the apartment of one Uryū Ishida, sitting in the floor and trying to sew…well, he wasn't quite sure _what_ it was supposed to be: an elaborate dress, or another one of the Quincy's strange battle outfits.

"Damn it!" he roared, dropping the needle and cloth as he poked his finger yet again. "This is ridiculous! Uryū, we're a couple of young, hip guys; we should be out _drinking_ on a night like this, not sewing!"

"_We_?" asked Ishida, raising an eyebrow. "Last time I checked, you were one hundred and fifty-seven; that hardly qualifies you as being young."

"Yeah? Well-"

"And furthermore," continued the Quincy, "you should be grateful I even opened the door; Soul Reapers are still my enemies, you know."

"Then why _did_ you open the door, smart guy? Huh? Answer me that!" snapped Renji.

There was silence for a moment as the teen considered his answer.

"I'm simply more _tolerant_ of you and Rukia because of how often we've had to work together. That's all."

"Oh, bullshit!" bellowed Renji, but Uryū paid him no mind, and instead went back to his sewing.

Frustrated, the shinigami stood up, curtly thanked the Quincy for his time, and then left the apartment, not quite sure where to go next.

* * *

Night had finally fallen, and the group had been in the mall most of the day, but judging by the arctic temperatures that seemed to be dropping lower and lower every time Rangiku came out with another sack of merchandise, it was all going to come to an end soon enough.

The tally was now Hitsugaya carrying seven bags, and Ichigo and Anrak both had fourteen apiece.

And as Rangiku and the girls came out of another store with yet _another_ bag, Anrak shivered and wished he'd brought a warmer coat.

"That's it!" snapped Hitsugaya as his lieutenant dumped the responsibility of carrying said bag on him. "No more, Rangiku! This little shopping trip is _over_!"

"Oh, thank _God_!" muttered Ichigo under his breath, and Anrak thought that he might have jumped for joy had he not been so weighed down.

"But captain!" whined Rangiku, stretching out the world 'captain' like a spoiled kid would, "We're all having so much fun, and-"

"No, _we_ aren't!" he corrected her. "_You_ are, and you're using _us_ as your personal luggage handlers!"

"But captain, you look so _cute_ trying to carry all those big bags…"

Anrak had thought it couldn't get much colder, but he could suddenly see his breath every time he exhaled, and they were still _inside_ the mall.

"I am _not_ cute!" roared the tiny ice captain in a huff, and that attracted plenty of attention their way as everyone around turned to stare at what appeared to be a petulant child having an immature outburst.

"Just one more store, please Captain?" whined Rangiku, pouting.

"Don't give in, Tōshirō!" yelled Ichigo.

"You can beat this, Captain!" cheered Anrak, trying to give the smaller male some support.

"Please?" Rangiku practically begged, pushing her bottom lip out as far as she could and batting her long eyelashes.

"Don't do it, Captain! This is the same trick they used on me!" warned Anrak, but it was of no use.

"Fine…" Hitsugaya sighed, defeated "One more store, and that's it."

The three women cheered ecstatically.

Ichigo and Anrak just groaned.

* * *

"Why do you need to contact the world of the living again?" asked Lieutenant Nemu Kurotsuchi as she led the other two soul reapers through the halls of Research and Development.

"We're just…we're…uh…" stuttered Satsu, unsure of how to answer.

"We're placing an order for a friend that he can pick up next time he's in the human world." said Takk quickly, hoping Nemu wouldn't question them further.

"I see…" she said, leading them to a large console with a phone connected to it. "As you are know, humans cannot normally see or hear spirit beings we are in a gigai. Even if a human were to get a hold of one of our Soul Pagers, he would be completely unable to hear us on the other end. This device, however, allows us to directly call the world of the living. It will first connect to a host number and use their phone line to connect to the destination."

"This screen," she said, indicating one of two screens on the panel, "provides a list of host numbers to choose from. Each host number corresponds to a residential telephone in Karakura, so if the end recipient wishes to try and call back, he will reach the owner of that phone line, and not the Seireitei. There is no way for humans to contact us, and Master Mayuri says that it for the best."

"So, this screen, then, shows the true destination of the call?" asked Takk, motioning to the second screen.

"That is correct. This computer is able to access every active phone number in the world of the living, enabling us to contact anyone in the world, at any time."

"That's great… All we need to call is a flower shop, and… Hey, is that Captain Kurotsuchi yelling for you?"

"I do not hear anything." stated Nemu flatly, cocking her head and listening, and Takk elbowed his brother in the ribs sharply, prompting him.

"Yeah…I hear him, too. Sounds pretty urgent." added Satsu finally, and Nemu looked a bit confused.

"Strange; I do not hear Master Mayuri. I will go check in with him. Please do not touch anything until I return." said Nemu, bowing politely and excusing herself.

Takk and Satsu grinned at each other before turning back to the machine, with Takk looking up the number for the Karakura mall, and Satsu browsing through the list of host numbers to tap into.

"Which one should we pick?" he asked.

"Who cares?" said Takk. "Just pick one; not like it matters to us."

"Okay…" said Satsu, randomly selecting a number and initiating the connection sequence. "Do you have a plan?"

"Of course I do." said Takk with a malicious grin.

* * *

The six stood outside the final store for the evening, and Rangiku's face had a devilish grin on it. Ichigo had turned red in the face and was refusing to go in, but Rangiku and Rukia were already dragging him inside.

Anrak didn't particularly want to go in, either, and that was based solely off Ichigo's reaction. Surely, this must be a store of great evil to get such a reaction from Kurosaki…

"Come on, An!" urged Nel brightly, but he shook his head adamantly.

"No, thanks. I'll sit out here with Frosty the Snowman and wait for you." he quipped, and as the temperature plummeted sharply again, cutting him right to the bone, he instantly regretted it.

"On second thought, let's check it out." he agreed hurriedly, heading towards the entrance with Nel.

"I just have one question…" Nel asked, looking up at the store's sign.

"Yeah?"

"Who is Victoria, and why is she selling a secret?"

* * *

Renji stood on the sidewalk for several minutes, staring at the front door to Ichigo's house. Surely they were all back from shopping now, and while he hadn't been invited to go along with them, Renji was positive that his friends wouldn't turn him away if he were to just show up.

Problem was that he couldn't sense Ichigo's reiatsu, or Anrak's, or Nel's, or Hitsugaya's…

Frowning, Renji walked up and peered in the front window. Were they _still_ out shopping?

"Welcome home, Ichigo!" cried out a voice from above, and Renji looked up just in time to have some lunatic jump out of the second story window on top of him.

"What the hell are you _doing_, you crazy old man?" he snarled, pushing the nutcase off of him.

Isshin Kurosaki sat up and blinked in the dim light offered by a street lamp across the street.

"Hey, you're not Ichigo…" he said finally, and Renji felt a vein throbbing in his forehead.

"Obviously!" he snapped.

"Although, in this light, you _do_ kind of look like my son…" observed the elder Kurosaki.

"The hell I do! I am _nothing_ like that strawberry!"

"Got his disposition, too, I see."

"You take that back right now!" growled Renji, tightening his fists.

"It's like I have two sons!" announced Isshin Kurosaki proudly before looking skyward and yelling up at the heavens. "Masaki, we have another baby boy!"

"That's it, old man!" shouted Renji, tackling him…

* * *

There was a lot of pink. And lace. And, in some cases, pink lace.

Now Anrak understood why Ichigo had been so reluctant to go into this particular store as his own face had turned a deep crimson. He was surrounded by women's undergarments, and very suggestive undergarments at that.

Nel might have been even more embarrassed than he was, judging by the very nervous grin she wore as she wandered around looking at the frilly…_things_.

Rangiku, on the other hand, was shamelessly looking at everything, regardless of how skimpy it was, sometimes holding garments against her body as she looked into a mirror and tried to imagine how it'd look on her.

Rukia looked fairly uncomfortable as well, but she was obviously trying her best _not_ to show it, especially in front of Ichigo. She held up a little white number which came with a pair of bunny ears that looked scarily like her beloved Chappy the Bunny.

"What do you think, Ichigo?" she asked, cheeks flushing. "Should I buy it?"

Ichigo took one look at the cup size and then blurted out "And who's going to fill it out?"

*WHAM!*

"She really does have an amazing jump kick to have such short legs…" observed Anrak wryly as Rukia proceeded to stomp on the now-writhing-on-the-floor Ichigo.

"Why do they fight like that all the time?" sighed Nel to Rangiku. "I thought they _liked_ each other…"

"Oh, honey, this is just how they show their affection." said Rangiku, giggling as Ichigo got the snot pounded out of him.

"Oh…" said Nel, confused. Soul Reapers _abused_ each other as a sign of affection?

She watched the fight, and turned her head to the left to look at Anrak, who was completely oblivious to everything but the fight right now. Nel looked back at the fight one last time, then back and Anrak, and…

*POW!*

Her left fist shot out and caught him across the jaw suddenly, dropping him to the floor in an instant.

It was at that moment Rangiku leaned in close and whispered into her ear, "It's how _they_ show their affection; not how _normal_ people do it."

"Oops…" said Nel sheepishly, blushing again as Anrak tried to pick himself up off the floor.

"-the hell was _that_ for?" he asked, rubbing his aching jaw.

"Muscle spasm?" she offered weakly. "I've never used a gigai before, so…"

He didn't look the least bit convinced, and opened his mouth to argue the point with her, but he was interrupted by the chirping of his soul pager.

_**Oh, please be a rampaging hollow…**_ he wished desperately, and he could hear Kagi giggling darkly from inside her little world.

He opened the cell phone-like device to find a text message from Takk.

**Mission accomplished! **was all it said.

Anrak wondered what that meant, and then he noticed a mall security guard whispering to the desk clerk, who promptly announced that the mall was closing immediately, and all shoppers were to drop their un-purchased items and head for the nearest exit in an orderly fashion.

The five headed back out to meet up with Hitsugaya and gather up the bags that had been left with him, and got caught up in a sea of people all flowing towards the exits.

When they finally got outside, they found countless police cars and fire trucks in the parking lot. They wondered what was going on, and then someone else in the crowd overheard an officer mention the words "bomb threat," and the sea of people turned into a stampede.

* * *

Takk felt pretty satisfied with himself, knowing that he had helped a friend avoid a fate worse than death, and it felt even better to have been able to place the call _and_ escape Division 12 before Lieutenant Kurotsuchi came back, most likely with her twisted captain in tow.

"We did a good thing today." he told his brother proudly and Satsu nodded in earnest agreement.

"Just one question…" asked Satsu. "Who do you think the host number belonged to?"

"Ah, I'm sure it's no one important."

* * *

Keigo Asano was bored out of his skull. His parents were out of town, all of his friends had been too busy to hang out tonight, even when he'd brought up the idea of throwing a party at his place…

Even his sister was gone tonight, although he figured that was probably a _good_ thing; she could be really scary when she wanted to be.

This was lame! Just because all his friends were otherwise occupied tonight didn't mean he should feel down! He was the life of the party, and _everyone_ knew it! No one, absolutely _no one_ was cooler than the one and only Keigo Asano! Hell, wherever Ichigo and the others were right now, they were probably regretting their decision and wishing they'd taken up his offer to party.

In fact, they might start showing up any minute now because they couldn't take the boredom anymore…

Quickly, Keigo got out some chips, dip, ordered a pizza, and cranked up the stereo good and loud. Yes indeed, he was going to have a party after all…

He got up on the couch and began dancing to the music for several minutes before finally realizing that this song didn't normally include loud "thuds" like someone beating on a wall…

At that moment, his door burst in and a half-dozen S.W.A.T officers poured into his apartment with tasers pointed at him.

"Where did you put the bomb?" one of them demanded, but Keigo could hardly hear him over the thundering of the music.

"What?" he yelled.

"Put your hands on your head and tell us where you hid the bomb!" shouted a second officer, but Keigo still couldn't hear him and so he took a guess at what the officers wanted.

"I'm sorry! I'll turn it down!" he declared, reaching for the stereo's remote.

"He's going for a weapon! Taze him!"

"Don't taze me, br- _AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!_"

* * *

Kon was waiting down by the doorframe as Ichigo and Rukia finally returned, shamelessly peering up Rukia's skirt as she entered.

"Ah, what a nice angle…" he sighed dreamily. "Oh, my sweet, sweet Rukia… Oh, and my beautiful, busty Rangiku…and…" he trailed off, not recognizing the third woman in their little party.

He scampered around to the couch and climbed up on the back of it for a better view. She wasn't as endowed as Rangiku, but the difference was pretty small, and she was _very_ cute.

Kon decided that he just _had_ to introduce himself.

"Come to me, my green-haired goddess!" he cried, launching himself from the back of the couch towards her glorious breasts.

He was rudely interrupted by a rough and decidedly male hand who snatched him out of the air by his face.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" growled the brown-haired stranger that Kon could only assume was another shinigami.

"Who the hell are you, the booby police?" snapped Kon angrily as he struggled to get free, "Let me go this instant!"

"Here, Annie… I'll take care of this." offered Rangiku sweetly, plucking Kon from his hands and heading for the back door.

The mod-soul-infused stuffed animal smiled triumphantly and began to snuggle himself into Rangiku's chest.

"I just _knew_ you would save me, my sweet, beautiful Rangiku…"

Rangiku gave an icy smile as she stepped outside, held Kon at arm's-length away from her body, and turned him to face out towards the city.

"Yes, it is a beautiful night tonight, my love…" he sighed, and that's when he felt her simply…let go. He began to fall, but it was only an instant before he felt the sharp pain of a foot connecting with his stuffed rear end, propelling him over the neighbor's house and out of sight.

* * *

While Rangiku dealt with the perverted mod-soul and Rukia attempted to figure out how to work the DVD player in the living room, Ichigo crept upstairs and opened the door to his father's room to check in. It was highly unusual for the elder Kurosaki _not_ to ambush Ichigo anytime he returned home, and it had the teen wondering what was going on.

At first glance, Isshin appeared to be in asleep, but as Ichigo crept closer, he realized this his gigai was empty.

He'd found out that his father was a former captain during the war, so he wasn't terribly surprised to see an empty gigai. Still, he wondered where in the world the crazy old man could actually be…

* * *

"Man, it's great being back in the Seireitei after so long…" slurred Isshin, and his drunken companion nodded enthusiastically.

"Home sweet home!" agreed Renji, passing the sake jug over to his new friend, who moved his fishing pole to the other hand before accepting. Meanwhile, Renji noticed his line was twitching.

"Hey!" he said, nudging Isshin, "I think I got something!"

"Well, don't let it get away! Reel it in!" urged the elder man, and Renji obliged, jerking the rod to set the hook, and then working the reel furiously.

It took some doing, but finally he reeled his prize up to the roof; a petite shinigami dangling from the hook by the back of her pants, with two long, tight braids hanging down from either side of her oh-so-angry face.

"I caught a NinjaFish!" announced a very-inebriated Renji triumphantly. "Beat _that_, Isshin!"

"It's the end of the world for you two idiots." hissed Soifon.

"I don't know, son…" said Isshin, taking another swig of sake. "Maybe we should throw her back; she looks kinda small…"

…and all Hell broke loose.


	26. Statements Without Words

**Statements Without Words**

Wednesday morning found Anrak out in North Rukon 2, helping rebuild the shattered homes and businesses along with a large chunk of Squad 11 and various members of other squads. Captain Zaraki had been tied up in Captain's Meetings the past couple of days, and without his unique form of leadership, the squad had already begun to degenerate into a state of sloth.

The lieutenant had been of no help; between her meetings with the other lieutenants and the Shinigami Women's Association, she was gone nearly as much as Zaraki.

Not that anyone considered that to be a bad thing, really; Yachiru was more than a little childish, and ill-suited to lead the squad on her own.

Today, Anrak had finally had enough and addressed the squad himself, ordering them to get off their collective rears and do something useful, something…_constructive_. There had been a considerable bit of groaning and complaining from the men, but none had argued with him or refused.

Ikkaku _could_ have overruled him, could have had them all do something else, but the bald Soul Reaper had leapt at the chance to simply get out and do something, _anything_.

Anrak had suspected right then that, before the day was over with, Ikkaku would end up assuming the role of 'construction foreman' one way or another.

Not that he cared; as long as the bulk of the squad was up and active, and helping restore the devastated Rukon back to it's normal state, Anrak didn't care what the other officers were doing. If Ikkaku wanted to spend the day pretending he knew how to lead a construction crew, then so be it.

_Will it be wrong of me to laugh when his crew screws up and the building collapses?_

_**Better question; do you really **_**care**_** if it's wrong?**_

_No._

_**Figures…**_

It was still cool out, though thankfully not as cold as it had been in previous weeks. Still, it was enough to warrant his cloak, and as a chill breeze blew by and forced the others to shiver, he was thankful that he'd had the foresight to bring it.

He was currently leading a group of other shinigami in constructing the frame for what would be a large inn once completed, an inn that had been burned to the ground during the war. Over the sound of all the hammering, he could hear Ikkaku in the background barking orders at shinigami and civilians alike as to how to do their jobs, and Anrak could only smirk and shake his head.

_**Classic Ikkaku… It's reassuring to know that some things never change.**_

The wind gusted again, the cold air making most of the other shinigami and civilians pause to shiver and complain about the weather.

"This ain't nothin'." drawled the soul reaper off to his right, a deep, foreign accent coloring his words. "This lil ole breeze here is nice as can be. Y'all ought to try workin' like this under the hot Louisiana sun in the summer; this here cool air is a slice of heaven compared to that."

"Or they could have worn a cloak." muttered Anrak.

"Or that." agreed the other man. "Either way, they just need to quit all the whinin'. We got a job to do, and it ain't gonna get done no faster by cryin' bout every lil thing."

"Amen to that." nodded Anrak as he hammered one last nail into place and stepped back to examine the structure. He wasn't exactly a master carpenter, but from what he could tell, it looked good and sturdy, and he felt a small bit of pride as he examined his own handiwork.

"I reckon she'll hold up pretty good." mused the other shinigami beside him. "Least, our side will. Can't be sayin' much bout the rest of it."

"Can't crawl over the whole thing and double-check their work, though; we're just going to have to trust them." stated Anrak, eyeing a lumber pile. "Want to go ahead and start on the side paneling?"

"Sure!" agreed the other man as he grabbed a sheet of wood, his thick accent making the word sound more like 'show' than "sure."

Anrak shook his head at the strange man and grabbed some more nails.

"Not to be rude, but…you're not from around here, are you?"

"Nope, nope I ain't. I came from South 17."

"Not quite what I meant."

"Oh…yeah, I ain't from Japan or China or any of the usual places folks 'round here always seem to be from. I was born in Louisiana 'fore I died and came here. Died in Japan, yup."

"Where's that?" asked Anrak as he began to nail a panel into place.

"Louisiana? The good ol' United States of America. Soul Society don't seem to watch out for it, though."

"Out of our jurisdiction, I guess. For centuries, we've only focused on the areas around the current location of the _jūreichi_, which is located in Karakura Town at the moment."

"What's that?"

"It's like a wellspring of spiritual energy in the human world, or a ley line. It moves across the world, but very slowly. It's been in Asia for the past seven hundred years or so."

"I don't get what's so important about it that we can't watch over the rest of the world, too, you know?"

"Because of the spiritual energy, it has the greatest concentration of hollows by far, which is why we focus on it."

"But it's not the _only_ place hollows are!" exclaimed the Cajun. "Growin' up in Louisiana, I always hear tales bout ghosts and monsters out in the bayou… I reckon those are probably hollows and not the hairy, mossy swamp-monsters I always imagined."

"I'm not saying we _shouldn't_ police spirits elsewhere in the world, but that's not my call. Pretty sure Nel came from somewhere other than Asia, and she's an arrancar. To me, the fact we have an arrancar who originated in another country tells me we need a change, but I'm not the Head-Captain." growled Anrak as he narrowly missed smashing his thumb with the hammer.

He'd thought the focus of the Seireitei was too narrow for a long time, and he'd heard rumblings from a few of the other, more-traveled shinigami that echoed his own thoughts; all souls, everywhere, needed protection and guidance, not just the souls who happened to be close to the _jūreichi._

"I heard we had an arrancar staying in the Seireitei, but I ain't never seen her. I reckon she's a friend of yours, then?"

"Yeah, we're…close." said Anrak hesitantly, unsure of what his relationship with Nel really was anymore. There had been so many times when he _thought _she was waiting for him to say something or make a move, but he wasn't certain, and so he stayed his hand.

"I see…" said the Cajun, nodding as he finished nailing his sheet into position. "She's special, and you don't know how to tell her, yeah?"

"Something like that." muttered Ushii, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with the turn the conversation had taken.

"Sometimes, the best way to be sayin' it ain't with words at all." explained the other man, pulling out a necklace made of a simple black leather strap and some kind of strange tooth from inside his shihakushō, nearly identical to the one around his neck. "You see this?"

"Yeah; it looks just like the one you're wearing."

"Sure does; t'was my brother's. Shortly 'fore we left Louisiana, we went gator hunting, and we pulled these teeth from the biggest gator you ever did see. We made them into these here necklaces, little trophies of our hunt. I had mine on when I died, so I still had it when I woke up in Soul Society. I reckon he had his, too, when he finally died."

Anrak nodded, not sure what the hell a 'gator' was or where the odd man was going with this story.

"I was just eighteen when I died, and he was barely sixteen… I know he got away, I saw it before I went down. And then yesterday, I found this out here in the wreckage… No body or nothin', but I _know_ this tooth. This was _his_ necklace; he was here…and now he's gone again."

"So your brother was in North 2 all along and you never knew?" asked Anrak, sympathy swelling for the other man. That _had_ to hurt, more than anyone could imagine.

"Yep, that seems to be the case." nodded the Cajun. "I hope he had a good, long life 'fore he came to Soul Society, and I hope his next life is a good one, too. But this necklace of his…I been thinking about what to do with it, and I think I'm probably going to give it to Sha."

"Who the hell is Sha, and why would you give them something like that? It was your brother's!"

"Oh, Sha's this cute lil gal I met from another division, and I'm thinking that if I give it to her, she'll know how much I trust her, that I think she's something special. It's a gift from the heart, you see?"

Anrak almost felt stupid for not seeing it earlier.

"By giving her something that means so much to you, it makes a statement stronger than just _telling_ her that she's special."

"Exactly! Now, the way I see it, I reckon you ought to do the same for this lil gal of yours."

"Yeah…except I don't _have_ anything like that to give. I don't exactly have a lot of stuff, and none of its really important to me."

"Then you best be finding something; if'n you wait too long, you may lose her without ever having her."

* * *

"Are you _sure_ this is a good idea?" Nel asked nervously, eyeing all the vials of various colored-liquids, pickled specimens in jars, and strange instruments lying about.

"You said you wanted to help out more, right? Getting your zanpaktou fixed will let you perform _konsō_ and cleanse hollows." explained the blonde, leading her friend through the maze that aisles and experiments that was the Department of Research and Development.

"Yes, but…this place is _creepy._"

"The good news is that Captain Kurotsuchi is at the Captain's Meeting, or it would be a _lot_ worse; honestly, that man scares the hell out of me. Nemu can probably do all the work for us, and she won't bother with all the stupid paperwork and making an appointment that her captain would demand!"

"So, you're really, _really_ sure about this, right?"

"Absolutely!" exclaimed Rangiku. "Hey, there she is! Nemu! Hey, Nemu!"

The delicate doll-like shinigami looked up from her desk at the sound of her name, her eyes fixing on the noisy blonde making her way over.

"Lieutenant Matsumoto," greeted Nemu evenly, "how may I help you?"

Rangiku simply snatched _Gamuza_ from Nel and laid it out on the desk, grinning broadly.

"We want this to work more like _our_ zanpaktou." she explained. "Konsō, soul purification…the works!"

"I see…" said Nemu, looking over the sword and it's pale-green scabbard. "I'm sorry, but that is beyond my capabilities."

Nel looked crestfallen, but Rangiku refused to take "no" for an answer.

"Oh, come _on_, Nemu! There's got to be _something_ you can do!" she pleaded.

Lieutenant Kurotsuchi looked from Rangiku to Nel before pulling out a small book of some sort and scribbling in it.

"Master Mayuri can make the adjustments you require. I will simply…_alter_ his schedule slightly and he will have it finished in a couple of days."

"Thank you!" Nel exclaimed, brightening. "Thank you so much, Nemu!"

"According to the schedule, you filed the paperwork for this immediately following your last trip to Hueco Mundo." Nemu explained, ignoring the thanks. "However, since the original dated paperwork appears to be missing, you will have to fill out new paperwork before Master Mayuri will touch it."

"But we never filed any paperwork back then…" Nel began.

"Nel, sweetie, she's saying the _official_ story to Captain Kurotsuchi is that you did, and the paperwork has gone missing. You'll fill out some new forms today, Nemu will mark them as replacement papers for the 'lost' originals, and in a couple of days, you'll get your zanpaktou back." explained Rangiku.

"So, we're lying?"

"Yes, but it's for a good cause." rationalized Rangiku. "Maybe we can get you sent to the Academy after your zanpaktou is fixed, and have you assigned to a squad."

"And then, I won't just be a guest anymore; I'll be able to earn my keep…"

"Exactly!" said Rangiku, snatching the blank forms from Nemu and handing them to Nel.

As Nel filled out the forms, making sure to date them appropriately, Rangiku turned back to Nemu, grinning as she produced a small bottle of sake.

"So, after we're done with this, Nemu, want to go out with us? We'll have ourselves a little girl's night out!"

"I am sorry, Lieutenant Matsumoto, but I cannot. Master Mayuri-"

"Won't even notice you're gone! Come on, Nemu, _trust_ me!"

* * *

Night was falling as the Soul Reapers began to make their way back to the Seireitei from the Rukon. Anrak had been mulling over his new friend's advice all afternoon, but he'd yet to come up with anything appropriate to give Nel.

"Still no idea, huh?" asked the other man as they walked side by side.

"None at all." sighed Anrak to Jean Rawlings, the Cajun soul reaper. "It shouldn't be _this_ hard to think of something, should it?"

"Well, I can't reckon any other way it _could_ go if'n you ain't got anything you hold sacred."

"What about just _buying_ her something? A cloak, I bought her a cloak shortly after we first met-"

"Not the same, not the same… Gotta be something from the _heart_, not from a store."

"Got any ideas, then?" asked an exasperated Anrak, and Jean just laughed heartily.

"Lord, I don't even _know_ the girl, and you askin' _me_? This be somethin' you gonna have to work out on your own."

"Wonderful… I just-_AAAHHH!_"

* * *

"Hi, An!" hiccupped a slightly-tipsy Neliel, her cheeks noticeably red and her speech slightly slurred.

...and yet somehow, she _still _managed to look completely innocent despite the oversized fishing rod in her hands. Beside her, a drunken Rangiku was rolling about the roof laughing hysterically at the hooked shinigami hanging by the back of his shihakushō.

"Good catch, Nel!" she giggled, hiccuping herself as she did so. "Nemu! You've _got_ to get a picture of this!"

Obediently, the perfectly-sober third member of their little troop produced a camera, and Anrak just groaned at the prospect of such an embarrassing moment being immortalized.

"Smile, An!" chirped Neliel, pressing her cheek against his and grinning ear to ear as the camera flashed.

Down below, Jean just shook his head and walked off back to his own division.

"And folks say _I'm_ strange…"


	27. How Things Change

**How Things Change...**

_"There is nothing noble about being superior to some other person. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."_

**_-Seireitei, 110 Years Ago-_**

The Seireitei was a big place.

He'd known that from the start, of course, and at the Academy, all the students had been shown images of the Seireitei, as well as overhead views giving a rough layout and metrics meant to help understand the scale of it all.

Unfortunately, none of that was adequate enough to prepare a young soul reaper for the truth of the matter.

Only a few days out of the academy, and the sheer size of the fortress-like Seireitei was _still_ hard to comprehend; it was absolutely massive, filled with a virtually endless maze of streets and corridors leading both everywhere and nowhere, and there were no signs, either! No helpful maps at strategic locations to indicate "you are here, the Grand Mess is over here, headquarters for this squad is over here, and headquarters for _that_ squad are over there."

There had been stories at the academy of new recruits getting so hopelessly lost in the labyrinth that they ended up starving to death alone and forgotten in dark alley ways, and that sometimes, the bodies were never recovered.

He hadn't believed the stories back then; they were too dark, too impossible, too unrealistic.

Now, though, they seemed all _too_ real.

He was lost, hopelessly lost, and had been lost for the past six hours.

It was hard enough being one of the new guys, but little things like _this_ certainly wouldn't do much for helping his status in the eyes of his peers and his new captain.

Then again, maybe being lost wasn't such a bad thing; he performed well in swordplay during training exercises, often holding his own quite well against the veteran shinigami, and, in some cases, besting them. However, his weak spiritual pressure, lack of unarmed skills, and more-timid nature made him a prime target for the more-aggressive veterans in the squad.

Six hours away from them was, in it's own way, a blessing.

But night would be falling soon, and many of these dark alleys and side-streets were unlit; he didn't want to still be lost when the sun went down, lest he fall into one of the supposedly-bottomless pits that were used for garbage disposal.

_**Of course, my squad would probably say that's where I belong…**_ he thought sourly.

This was stupid; he shouldn't be here, should have never went to the academy, shouldn't be a soul reaper...

"I should have just stayed in West 54 where I belong." he muttered to himself.

_Shut up and keep walking, fool; self-pity isn't going to get us anywhere._

He scowled at the voice of his zanpaktou; a dark, bitchy spirit who was thus far nameless, having refused to "grace" him with her true name.

He'd decided almost immediately after his first contact with the spirit that he didn't like her; all she ever seemed to do was nag or insult him, no middle ground, no pretense of being friendly and cooperative. Unfortunately, however much it pained him to admit it, she was right; regretting his past decisions wouldn't do anything to help his current situation.

The sun was starting to set, with the bright, cheery blue of the afternoon sky fading way to the darker blues and purples of evening, and he was now seven hours lost.

Another story from the academy came to mind as he watched the sky change colors, one about those few who had survived getting lost in the Seireitei moving into the sewer tunnels and becoming cannibals just to stay alive, coming to the surface after dark to hunt down other unfortunate souls who lost their way in the night.

Suddenly, _that_ story seemed very real, too.

He took off in a dead run, determined to find _somewhere_ that was well-lit, somewhere that could pass as a safe place. He didn't care if it was his own division or not, so long as there were other people there, people who _weren't _potential cannibals.

He ran until he thought his lungs would burst, looking for a street that was lit, looking for anyone who _didn't _smell like a sewer. He ran until he wasn't sure how long he'd been lost anymore, until the moon was riding high in the night sky.

And still, he saw nothing but darkness around him.

Exhausted, he stopped to catch his breath for a few moments before walking, having come to the conclusion that it might be best to save some energy in case he _did _run into a cannibal or anything else that might be lurking in the dark shadows of the night.

_Baka, I _am_ the night!_

Somehow, the creepy spirit's claim didn't help ease his fears in the slightest.

He turned a corner and saw…

_**Light!**_

At long last, he saw the light of a torch and an illuminated street! If he could just make it there, he should be okay, just follow the torches and they were bound to lead him _somewhere _safe.

He took off running again, joy swelling in his heart.

_**Light! Safety! Salvation!**_

He burst out into the brightly-lit street and turned to follow the torches, still sprinting madly. He could literally _smell_ his freedom and salvation ahead, perhaps just around the next corner…

…instead, he found a figure around the corner, and he plowed straight into them, sending both individuals to the ground roughly, the panicked rookie laying on top of other individual.

Groaning, he pushed his body up off the other person, apologizing as he did so while a pair of gold-colored eyes set in a young, beautiful, dark-skinned face blinked upwards at him in surprise as he still hovered just above.

"I like for my men to be a little forward, but _this_ is just ridiculous." came a smooth female voice flooding into his ears.

"I'm terribly sorry, miss!" he apologized, getting to his feet and offering her his hand. She accepted, and he easily pulled the lithe woman to her feet…and that was when he noticed her white haori.

While he was new to the Seireitei, he knew there were only two female captains in the Gotei 13, and he'd already met Captain Retsu Unohana when she gave him his physical his first day on the job.

That meant he had just ran over…

"I'm sorry, Captain Shihōin!" he cried out, dropping to his knees in both respect and submission.

He'd just bowled over the captain of Squad 2, the stealth force, the people who handled assassinations and all of the Seireitei's wet-work.

He was _so_ screwed.

"I'm terribly sorry, Captain! I should have been paying more attention! I swear, if you let me live, it'll never happen again!"

He didn't want to die, not tonight, not here, not for such a stupid mistake like this, but he'd just assaulted a master assassin; the odds of surviving this encounter were _not_ high.

And yet, the woman just laughed at him.

It wasn't the condescending laugh of his peers that he'd heard so often, though; it was a laugh of good humor and genuine amusement, and there was no hint of malice behind it.

_**Of course, a master assassin should also be a master of deception…**_

"If I let you live? And what on Earth makes you think I'm going to kill you?" she asked finally.

"For my impudence! My carelessness! I assaulted you, and-"

"I'm _fine_; it was just an accident. You were in a hurry, and I'm as much to blame as anyone; someone in _my_ position should _never_ allow themselves to be caught so off-guard. Just relax and forget about it."

"Yes, Captain! I'm sorry, Captain!"

"And stop apologizing!" she admonished. "Honestly, it's not a big deal. No one saw us, so just stand up, look me in the eye like a man, and we'll go our separate ways."

Slowly, hesitantly, he got to his feet, and reluctantly raised his own dark blue eyes to meet her golden orbs, and she smiled at him.

"See? That's better. I swear, all you rookies seem to think we captains are heartless, bloodthirsty barbarians, but that's only Squad 11 and _their_ barbarian of a captain. Which division are you with, kid?"

"…Squad 11." he squeaked out, noting the shock on her face as he did so.

"_You_? But you're too…"

"Weak." he finished for her, looking down at his feet again.

"_Passive_." she corrected, and he had the sudden feeling that she had chosen the word deliberately to keep from adding insult to injury. "I'm guessing one of your combat scores was stupidly high."

"Zanjutsu, my swordsmanship; I was ranked third in my class."

"Really?" asked Captain Shihōin, sounding somewhat impressed. "This last class was one of the biggest ones in decades, too, wasn't it? Some two hundred students?"

"One hundred ninety-eight." he corrected her, mentally kicking himself for his insolence as he did so. Still, she paid him no attention to how rude it was for an unranked _nobody_ like him to correct a captain.

"Third out of one hundred ninety-eight is no minor feat; no wonder Squad 11 wanted you. If they can toughen you up some, teach you to be more aggressive, and maybe help you build up your spiritual pressure, you'll make a good officer for them one day."

He blushed slightly from the praise and began bowing and thanking her profusely, only to have her wave it off again.

"Anyway, what's your big hurry? You were running like a madman."

"I'm lost…" he began. "I've been lost for most of the day. I can't find my way back to Division 11, and when it started to get dark, I got scared…"

"So they're _still_ spreading those ridiculous rumors about cannibals at the academy, I take it…" she said, shaking her head with a look of mild amusement. "Believe me, there are no cannibals living in the sewers; the only thing you have to worry about is falling into a garbage pit and maybe breaking a leg. No one has _ever_ gotten so lost that they died or were never found; it's all just a stupid legend told to scare the hell out of kids like you."

"Well, when you're new and all alone in the dark, it all seems real then…" he mumbled, embarrassed by the situation.

"That's true…" she said, a faint smirk on her lips. "It's been so long since I was a rookie, it's easy to forget that sometimes."

Her words made him feel better, and while he still acknowledged that as a master assassin, she was still very capable of deceiving him, he suddenly felt more at ease with the captain. She understood what it was like being the new guy, at least on some level. She knew what he was going through, and she wasn't going to torment him over his shortcomings.

"Come on," she said, motioning for him to follow, "I'll show you the way back to Division 11."

"Thank you, Captain Shihōin!" he gushed, bowing again. Captain Shihōin responded by rolling her eyes.

"I _hate_ formalities; my name is Yoruichi." she pointed out.

"I'm sorry, Lady Yoruichi! I'll do better!"

"I suppose 'Lady Yoruichi' will suffice for now…" she sighed, and he finally realized that she didn't care for titles at all.

"I mean, I'm sorry, Yoruichi; thank you for your kindness." he amended, keeping a watchful eye on her and hoping that he'd read her right and she wouldn't be offended.

"That's _much_ better." she grinned. "Formalities are for old people, and I _hate _being called old."

"Hai…I don't think I'd like it, either; they just told us at the academy that it was disrespectful to address a captain by their first name." he agreed, giving the captain a nervous grin of his own that did nothing to mask his intimidation.

"I think it's more disrespectful to be called old. And by the way, you never told me _your_ name."

"My name is Anrak, Anrak Ushii."

* * *

_**-Seireitei, Present Day-**_

His eyes fluttered open, and with a yawn, Anrak set up in his bed, bright golden rays of morning light shining in through the one small window in his quarters. He popped his neck and rolled his shoulders as he replayed the dream in his mind.

_**No, not a dream,**_ he corrected himself, _**a memory.**_

He hadn't thought about that night in so long, he was surprised he could still remember it in such vivid detail.

That had been a long time ago, and he'd been a different person then; weaker, more unsure of himself…timid, even. In fact, he saw a lot of the kid he _used_ to be reflected in that scrawny medic from Squad 4, Hanatarō.

_Thank God you grew out of that…mostly._

He smirked as he slid out of bed and stretched. Yes, he had 'grown out' of that behavior, partially thanks to Kagi, partially thanks to Yoruichi, and partially thanks to the relentless teasing of his peers back then.

But all that had happened so long ago, it felt like another lifetime.

_There is no distance in this world so far away as yesterday._

"How remarkably philosophical of you…" he commented dryly as he began to get dressed, reflecting back on the previous day.

He _should_ have spent more time thinking about a gift for Neliel, but after she'd reeled him up to the roof, he'd become more concerned with getting the sake bottle away from her and making sure she got home safely before she did anything _too_ stupid and Renji-esque.

When he'd finally managed to coax her off the roof, however, she hadn't been eager to go home just yet, and had instead suggested they go out and get some _more_ sake, giggling drunkenly and hicupping as she did so. She had been too drunk to walk by herself, though, and could barely even stand up without falling over. At her insistence, he had let her _try_ and walk on her own, and that had ended with her taking two steps before falling backwards square on her rear end.

After that, Anrak had opted to pick her up over his shoulder and carry her home, ignoring the stares of other shinigami as they went, and trying to tune out Nel's drunken, off-key singing which had started as one song, then mutated into another, and another, and another, before finally degenerating into what had sounded like a foreign language that he couldn't make heads or tails of.

By the time he'd gotten Neliel back to her quarters, however, she was sound asleep.

She had looked so deceptively innocent at that moment that he found it hard to believe she was completely sloshed out of her gourd.

He'd taken her inside and put her down on her bed gently, tucking her in and noting as he did so that her zanpaktou was missing. The shinigami feverently hoped that his friend hadn't gotten so drunk that she'd lost it somewhere as he realized very well just how important the swords were to people like them, and he promised himself that he'd ask her about it sometime in the morrow.

And then he'd left for his own quarters, crashing onto the oh-so-inviting bed as soon as he entered.

He hadn't realized just how tired he'd actually been, but sleep had come swiftly as soon as he lay down, and while his dream had been very vivid, it had been a _very_ restful sleep.

Yawning one last time, the soul reaper shook his head, clearing out the last remnants of the dream and the memory of yesterday so that he could better focus on the present.

He wondered what was on today's agenda; he wasn't sure if Captain Zaraki would be in meetings all day again or not, or what the squad would do if he was. Squad 11, he mused, was a ticking time bomb without Zaraki around to keep all the psychotic thugs that were his peers in line. Sooner or later, it would explode spectacularly, and Anrak wasn't exactly anxious to be there to see it.

"If worse comes to worse, I suppose I could always just _beat_ them all into submission if they get too rowdy…" he said aloud, sliding _Kage Shitsukoi _into her usual place on his left hip.

_That's the spirit!_ Kagi cheered him, and he could feel more than a little pride emanating from the zanpaktou.

A shadow passed in front of the light from the morning sun, and then again, and again, and again. He glanced towards the window and noticed a Hell Butterfly fluttering about back and forth, desperately trying to get in.

Anrak opened the window, letting both the chill morning air and the tiny butterfly in, holding out his finger for it to light upon and deliver it's urgent message.

_There's a meeting in Division 1 in an hour._ Kagi informed him as she translated the silent message. _No details other than you are expected to be there, on time, or else._

Wonderful; as if it wasn't bad enough having all the captains sequestered away in meetings for the past three days, now he had to go to one, too?

Craptastic.

Briefly, he wondered if Kagi had been ad-libbing the "or else" part, or if Captain Zaraki had personally dispatched this particular message…

Either way, it didn't matter; like it or not, he had a meeting to go to, and all he could do now was silently curse his luck.

What the hell could they possibly want _him _for?


	28. Promise Fulfilled

**Promise Fulfilled**

Breakfast sounded nice. Breakfast sounded wonderful.

Breakfast was also a luxury he couldn't afford at the moment.

Given the choice between breakfast first followed by a shower, or a shower first and breakfast _never_, he'd been forced to choose the latter in order to make it to the meeting on time.

His hair was still damp from his quick shower as he headed to Division 1, and while it was still a little chilly outside, it was better than yesterday, and thankfully nowhere near as windy. Giving a smile and a nod in response to a greeting from a passing shinigami, Anrak turned his thoughts back to the meeting ahead.

Now that the war was over, it was probably time to answer for his insolence in disobeying Hitsugaya and Kyōraku during the Rukon Battles, and for hiding so much from his superiors for so very long, and for having impersonated a captain during the Battle for the Seireitei.

It couldn't be helped, he supposed; sooner or later, those issues would have to be addressed. Realistically, he should be thankful he'd escaped punishment for this long…

_No matter what happens, stand tall and proud, and don't you dare apologize for anything!_

_**Hai, I won't.**_

There was nothing to apologize for, anyway; everything he'd done had been for the greater good.

Well…except for holding back for so long; _that_ had been for his personal quest to surprise everyone.

Of course, _that_ hadn't panned out the way he'd hoped, and in the end, necessity had forced him to reveal his hand prematurely.

_Because you were afraid of losing that stupid girl._

_**Because I was afraid of losing **_**anyone**_**,**_ he corrected her.

And now, it was time to answer for those crimes.

He reached the Captain's Chambers, and was surprised to find both Renji and Ichigo standing outside the doors.

"Summoned you, too, eh?" grunted Renji, not exactly looking thrilled to be there. The redhead probably had the same concerns as Anrak; it was time to stand trial.

"They sent Soifon to come get me." growled Ichigo. "I woke up when she grabbed me by the ankle and yanked me out of bed. I don't think she would have waited to let me get out of my body if I hadn't _begged _her. Christ, I hope Kon doesn't do anything stupid while I'm gone…"

"That perverted mod-soul of yours?" asked Renji. "He's probably taking your body on a joyride through the girl's locker room at your school right about now."

Ichigo just closed his eyes and groaned as he rubbed his face, fearing his friend might be right.

Anrak opened his mouth to join in on teasing the orange-haired substitute, but the chamber door creaked open, and Chōjirō Sasakibe, the lieutenant of Squad 1 and the right-hand man of the Head-Captain, greeted the trio before ushering them inside.

"No matter what happens, stand tall." muttered Anrak to his companions, echoing Kagi's earlier advice. "We have nothing to regret."

Renji and Ichigo both nodded as the lieutenant led them over to find Head-Captain Yamamoto waiting on them, with a line of captains on either side of him, all standing shoulder to shoulder.

The three young men stood at attention before the Head-Captain…and he simply turned and walked back down the aisle of captains to stand on the little dais at the other end of the room before addressing the gathered individuals.

He rapped his cane on the hard-wood floor sharply, the noise echoing through the large room, calling the meeting to order.

"Lieutenant Renji Abarai, Squad 6. Fourth-seat Anrak Ushii, Squad 11. Substitute Shinigami Ichigo Kurosaki." began the aging leader loudly. "Do you know _why_ you have been summoned here?"

"No, sir!" answered Renji and Anrak in unison.

"Not really." said Ichigo more casually, and Anrak noticed a couple of the captains shifting in line, clearly annoyed by Kurosaki's lack of formality.

"Aizen's betrayal and the Winter War have both taken a heavy toll on the Soul Society. Tens of thousands were killed in the Rukon and forced back into the cycle of rebirth prematurely, and the Seireitei itself has lost a full third of it's Soul Reapers, along with heavy losses to the Patrol Corps and the Kidō Corps."

All three nodded to show that they were paying attention, but none of this was news to them; the extent of the Soul Society's losses were well-known through the Seireitei and most of the Rukon by now.

"As you all know, the true strength of the Seireitei has always been more in it's captains and lieutenants than in the average shinigami. Even so, we lost many lieutenants during the war, and we are currently four captains short…"

Yamamoto's words hung in the air for what seemed like an eternity, and neither Anrak or Renji could believe their ears. Surely this wasn't…

It _couldn't_ be…

Could it?

"Renji Abarai, step forward!" ordered the Head-Captain, and the tattooed man obediently stepped forward to stand in between the two lines of captains.

"Renji Abarai, you began your career in Squad 5 under Aizen. From there he transferred you to Squad 11 because he found you too 'difficult' to work with. Over time, you were promoted to the rank of Squad 6 Lieutenant under Captain Kuchiki, and you have made a considerable impression on everyone since that time…" began Yamamoto as he peered down at the younger man.

"Monday's deliberations were solely about you, Lieutenant Abarai. All can agree that you have come a long way in the past few decades, and while there was some disagreement, the majority has decided that the time has come for your career to go full circle; Renji Abarai, you are hereby promoted to the rank of Captain of Squad 5." proclaimed the Head-Captain to a stunned Renji.

Anrak and Ichigo recovered from the announcement first, applauding their friend despite a few disapproving glares from Captains Kuchiki and Soifon.

The line of captains to the right-hand side of Yamamoto shifted, creating a spot in-between Unohana and Kuchiki, and a still-speechless Renji numbly moved over to stand there.

The celebration for Renji was cut short as Yamamoto rapped his cane again, calling for silence from Ushii and Kurosaki.

"Anrak Ushii!" barked wizened leader of the Gotei 13. "Step forward!"

As Renji had done before him, Anrak obediently stepped forward as commanded.

Once again, he felt the immense spiritual pressure of the Head-Captain pressing down on him, probing him, testing him…and while it was _still_ amazingly strong and far beyond his own abilities, Anrak found it much easier to stand tall now than he had the first time he'd been brought before Yamamoto months ago.

"Fourth-seat Ushii…" opened the Head-Captain, "While Captain Abarai may have come a long way in the past few decades, _you_ have come even further in the past century. You have far exceeded every expectation listed about you in your record, and you have gained much respect over the course of this war. You were the focus of Tuesday's deliberations, and as with Captain Abarai, while there were some objections, the overall decision was that you are ready for greater responsibility."

Kagi was shamelessly doing a victory dance inside her little world already as Anrak swallowed hard, wondering what squad he'd be placed over.

"Anrak Ushii, it is the decision of the Gotei 13 that you be promoted to the rank of Captain of Squad 3-"

"Respectfully, I have to disagree with that decision…" spoke Captain Kyōraku, stepping forward from his spot in line and lifting the rim of his hat slightly to make eye contact with the Head-Captain.

Anrak had great respect for Shunsui, and to hear him voice discontent with the promotion…the hurt ran deep. It almost felt like a betrayal, but he swallowed his emotions and took a deep breath; if Captain Kyōraku was protesting the promotion, it was only because he had the Seireitei's best interests at heart, and nothing personal.

"What is the meaning of this?" demanded Yamamoto, clearly incensed at being interrupted.

"I just think Ushii would be better suited for Squad 13." said Kyōraku, giving another one of his disarming smiles that was meant to lower the tension in the room.

"That is not your decision to make, Captain Kyōraku." warned the elder man. "Furthermore, the customary period of mourning for Captain Ukitake is not yet over, and until that time, we will _not_ be appointing a replacement."

"In that case, I recommend we wait and call Ushii back here in a month."

"Captain Shunsui Kyōraku, you are _out_ of line!" barked Yamamoto, and the ambient temperature began to rise with his temper.

"With respect, Juu was like a brother to me. I knew him better than anyone here, and I _know_ he'd want someone like Ushii here to be the one to take over for him; Ushii's a good kid, with a good heart…also has good taste in women, but that's neither here nor there…"

Anrak fought back a smile in spite of the situation, partially because of Shunsui's attempt at humor and partially because he now understood the protest. The misplaced feeling of betrayal was gone now, replaced with a feeling of humility that Shunsui was placing so much faith in him.

There was a long, angry silence as the Head-Captain continued to fume.

"Look," began the Squad 8 Captain, "how about we decide democratically by putting it to a vote; who here thinks Ushii should take Squad 13?"

For a long second, Kyōraku's hand was the only one raised.

Then, slowly, Renji found the will to move again and put his right hand up, followed shortly by Captains Unohana, Zaraki, Hitsugaya, and after a moment's hesitation, Komamura.

"Put your hand down, Kurosaki; your vote doesn't count." said Byakuya icily to the side.

"The hell it doesn't!" snapped Ichigo. Captain Kuchiki narrowed his eyes in irritation, but said nothing further.

The biggest surprise of all came when one last captain raised their hand…

Soifon.

Anrak _knew_ she hated him, knew she'd like nothing more than to take him out in the woods and beat the hell out of him and leave him for dead…but he also knew that her loyalty to Yoruichi would never allow that, and it was that same loyalty which forced her to raise her hand now.

It was, after all, the vote Yoruichi would cast if given the choice.

"That's a clear majority…" Shunsui began. "I know the customary mourning period isn't over, but I also know that if Juu had been asked, this is the way he would have wanted it."

With that, he stepped back in line, and awaited the old man's verdict.

"Anrak Ushii!" thundered Yamamoto at last. "It is the decision of the Gotei 13 that you are hereby promoted to the rank of Captain of Squad 13."

Nodding, Anrak moved to the line of captain's on Yamamoto's left-hand side, taking his new spot at the end of the line beside Captain Kurotsuchi.

All eyes in the room turned to the last member of the trio.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, Substitute Shinigami…" rumbled Yamamoto gravely. "You are, without a doubt, one of the most reckless and insubordinate people I have ever encountered in all my years as Head-Captain…but you are also one of the strongest."

No one could have argued with that assessment, even if they wanted to.

"You were vital in the defeat of Aizen, and you risked your life to save Rukia Kuchiki when we were deceived into thinking she was our enemy, and have continued to play a pivotal role throughout the remainder of the war. You are young and brash, headstrong and disrespectful, but you have earned the right to be recognized as one of us. It is the decision of the Gotei 13 that you be appointed Captain of Squad 9, where Lieutenant Hisagi can help you ease into the role of a full-time shinigami rather than a mere substitute."

Anrak and Renji began to clap, but cut their celebrations short when they noticed that Kurosaki wasn't exactly overflowing with enthusiasm.

"Full-time?" he asked. "As in, staying here permanently?"

"Indeed! Being a captain is _not _a part-time job, Kurosaki; you have to be here and available to lead your squad at all times."

"I see… In that case, I have to refuse."

"What do you mean? You cannot refuse-"

"Look, I'm not dead _yet_; that's why I'm just a substitute. I have a _life_ back in the human world; I can't just turn my back on that! I can't just up and leave my family and friends! What you're asking is for me to just _die_ and stay here!" exclaimed Ichigo, his voice rising in anger.

Anrak expected Yamamoto to be outraged by Ichigo's refusal, but the old man surprised him by giving a slight nod.

"Very well; your reaction was not entirely unexpected, and we will not force the issue. In that case, you are excused from the remainder of this meeting, Substitute Shin-"

"Now wait just a minute here…" blurted Renji suddenly, and the captains all turned to glare at him for interrupting.

"Look," he began, "Ichigo's done too much to just be dismissed as a mere substitute. As much as it pains me to say it, we wouldn't even be _standing_ here if it wasn't for him!"

"And what would _you_ suggest, Captain Abarai?" sneered Kurotsuchi.

Having not thought that far ahead, Renji's confidence faltered.

"Well, I… That is to say that…"

"A job…" murmured Anrak, thinking. Hadn't the teen mentioned that in the human world, it was fairly common for others his age to get jobs during the weekends?

"What was that, Ushii?" asked Shunsui, having heard his mumbling.

"A job…" Anrak repeated, "A part-time job. Hisagi's been pretty over-burdened running Squad 9 all by himself, right? What about if we let Kurosaki come in on the weekends and help him out, and in the process, learn more about how to be an officer?"

"As I said, captaincy is _not_ a part-time job." Yamamoto reminded the younger man.

"I'm not talking about making him a captain… If Hisagi is still the _Acting_-Captain, how about we make Kurosaki his _Acting_-Lieutenant?"

"Exactly!" agreed Renji readily. "I know Hisagi would welcome the help, and Ichigo could _definitely_ use the experience. He might still have a life _now_, but no one lives forever; sooner or later, he _will_ end up a resident of the Soul Society, and when that day comes, he'll be ready to take his place here."

The room went quiet as the others considered the option. Everyone knew Renji was right; eventually Kurosaki's human life would end, and having him be prepared to assume the duties of a real Soul Reaper would make the transition easier for everyone.

"Kurosaki, do you agree to this?" asked the Head-Captain after a long minute.

"Well… I don't know; would I come here Friday evenings after school, stay the weekend, and go home sometime Sunday afternoon or something?"

"Correct. But also understand, in times of emergency in the Seireitei, you may be summoned at inconvenient times."

"But with Aizen dead and the war over, the chances of an emergency should be pretty slim…" mused the teen. "Yeah, sure. That sounds okay to me; I can start this weekend, I guess."

"Then go and inform Lieutenant Hisagi; from this point forward, he will serve as your commanding officer."

Kurosaki gave a very-informal little salute and allowed Chōjirō to lead him from the chamber.

"Squad 3 will answer to Captain Komamura and Lieutenant Masamune until such time as we are able to appoint a new captain, and it is important to note that this is _not_ the normal procedure for appointing new captains. However, with four positions empty and a need to fill them soon to maintain a show of strength, we have had to make exceptions here today. It will not be so in the future."

Renji and Anrak both nodded, understanding that they had managed to escape the traditional Captain's Competency Exam but that whoever came next would not be as fortunate.

"Now, on the subject of choosing your second-in-command…" he began, walking to each man and handing them the lieutenant's badges for their respective squads, "you have free reign to offer the position to anyone you see fit, but know that your peers have the right to challenge your decision if they feel the person is ill-suited for the job. If the other captains decide as a majority that a candidate is unfit, they will be stripped of their rank and you will be forced to choose a replacement. Is that clear?"

Both men answered an affirmative, but Anrak was busy staring down at the badge in his hands. He thought back to what Jean had said the other day; it wasn't something he held sacred, not a gift from the heart exactly, but it was _definitely_ a sign of trust…

"Now then, let us continue our meeting…" stated the Head-Captain, seeming pleased to have things in order now.

"As mentioned previously, we have lost a full third of our active soul reapers… This must be corrected as soon as possible, and in order to expedite the process, the Academy will be moving to a four-year program instead of six years for the foreseeable future."

A murmur rippled through the room, each officer gathered understanding that meant batches of rookies who were only partially-trained, at least for the first few years until the Academy fully adjusted to the new schedule.

"The current Sixth-Year students are in the final phase of their training now, and will be welcomed into the Seireitei in two weeks. The Fifth-Year students are having their training accelerated, and are expected to be ready for duty in three month's time, and the current Fourth-Year students will be ready by the fall. As you all know, rushing the training will place a greater burden on you to take an active role in teaching your subordinates, but I trust you will all rise to the occasion."

A chorus of "Yes, Sir!" rang through the chamber, and Yamamoto nodded in approval.

"The war with Aizen has brought something new to our attention…" said the Head-Captain, moving on to the next subject. "For centuries, we have focused heavily on the flow of souls around the area of the _jūreichi _at the expense of the rest of the human world, but that has proven to be a mistake. Captain Kurotsuchi, if you would share your findings with the others…"

Yamamoto stepped aside as Captain Kurotsuchi stepped forward, clearly enjoying being the center of focus.

"I would be _delighted_ to." said the freakish-looking man, and Anrak felt his skin crawl.

_**He's creepier than **_**you**_** are…**_

_Is that a challenge for me to try harder?_

_**Hardly.**_

"I have been doing research on the arrancar that served Aizen, and I have found that the majority of them came from countries far removed from the _jūreichi_. Allow me to explain…" said Kurotsuchi, walking over to a large map of the human world.

"This area is where we have been focusing on…" he stated, pointing to a circle drawn on the map that encompassed all of Japan and a large portion of China.

"But _this_ is where we have traced the arrancar Tia Halibel to…" moving his finger over to the western coast of the United States.

"And the best match for Coyote Starrk is a drifter from the mid-1800s traced to _here_…" he said, moving his finger down to New Mexico.

"The name Jaegerjaquez appears frequently in France and Louisiana, and although I haven't been able to pin down which of the two is responsible for the Espada known as Grimmjow _yet_, I will soon." babbled Kurotsuchi, sounding frustrated at his inability to be more precise.

"As far as our…_guest_ in the Seireitei, while she may not remember anything, the Odelschvank family appears to have been German in origin. I have found a birth certificate for a 'Neliel Tu Odelschvank' dated 1921, but no record of her death. In fact, the entire family seems to have vanished entirely by 1945. It's very odd, but I will keep researching until-"

"Thank you, Captain Kurotsuchi." interrupted Yamamoto, motioning for the Squad 12 captain to resume his place in line.

"The point is that these arrancars originated from souls outside of our area of focus, and this is unacceptable! How many more hollows still lurking in Hueco Mundo exist _because_ we were not paying close enough attention?"

No one could answer, not even Kurotsuchi.

"At full strength, each squad has always had two hundred and forty Soul Reapers, but only a few from each unit are dispatched to the world of the living at a time. Henceforth, we will be _increasing_ squad size from two hundred and forty individuals to three hundred and twenty, and expanding our efforts across the globe."

Another murmur rippled through the room as the captains absorbed this information. Historically, the squad sizes had only been increased once before, and that had been more than three centuries ago by a mere twenty people; this would mean eighty new people for each squad.

"Given that we are already short on manpower, it will take decades to reach full strength. However, we will begin sending more shinigami patrols to major population centers across the globe _immediately_ to begin the process of purifying hollows and guiding lost souls to the Soul Society. Once we have each squad at full-strength, we will re-evaluate the situation and see if additional measures are needed. Is this understood by all?"

A loud affirmative filled the room from the other ten captains.

"Good! Now, on to the next matter…"

* * *

It was lunch by the time Anrak got out of the meeting and was fitted for his new haori, and having skipped breakfast, he was positively starved. Renji had opted to go begin the process of moving his stuff to his new quarters in Division 5, leaving Anrak to make his way to the Grand Mess alone.

Their haoris wouldn't be ready until later in the evening, which was just as well since neither man officially assumed command until tomorrow morning.

"I'd like a sleeveless cut, but clean, similar to Hitsugaya's; I don't want the ragged look Zaraki has." he'd told the tailor.

"But sir," the tailor had replied, "Zaraki always orders a traditional long-sleeved haori and rips them off himself…"

Somehow, he hadn't been terribly surprised.

Anrak made his way to the Grand Mess and through the lines to get his chow, and then began to wander about looking for whatever table Neliel might be sitting at, but her distinctive green hair was nowhere to be found, and he was just about to give up and pick a seat at random when he could hear Rangiku laughing. He turned and followed the sound to a small table in the back with Rukia and Nel both there as well, though Nel was resting her head on the table and groaning, clearly hung over from her little adventure last night.

"Don't be so loud…" she admonished Rangiku weakly, not bothering to raise her head.

Anrak grinned and sat down with them, shaking his head.

"I see someone can't hold their liquor…" he joked.

Nel's response was just another miserable groan.

"Hi, Annie!" chirped Rangiku cheerfully, her exuberance showing no hint of her drinking escapade last night.

"Never again…" muttered Nel. "I am never, _ever_ drinking again."

"Now you see why _I_ don't go drinking with Rangiku." said Rukia, her voice slightly teasing.

Anrak quietly ate his chow as the women talked, thinking back to his first real hangover back in the academy… He'd thought he was dying, and swore up and down he'd never touch sake again for the rest of his afterlife.

Of course, _that_ hadn't lasted too long.

"I've learned my lesson; never again!" Nel declared loudly, followed shortly by her clutching her head. "Ow…"

"It gets better as your body gets used to the alcohol." said Anrak in-between mouthfuls of food.

"Don't care, never drinking again."

"Oh, Nel, don't be like that!" whined Rangiku. "We had _fun_!"

"And I don't remember _any_ of it! Ow, ow, ow…"

Anrak bit his lip to keep from laughing, and Rukia was valiantly trying to stifle a giggle-fit of her own.

"Well, Annie took you home… I don't know what happened after that." said Rangiku, and Nel raised her head.

"An?"

"You wanted to go out and drink some more, and I said no. You wanted to walk on your own, and fell. Then you tried to sing, which, by the way, is being classified as a cruel and inhumane act, and then you finally passed out." explained Anrak, taking a sip of his water. "I don't even _want_ to know what all you were up to before I got reeled into it all…"

"Oh, don't worry; Nemu has pictures!" smiled Rangiku. "We painted the Seireitei red!"

"Seriously?" asked Nel, eyes wide.

"It's just another expression, Nel." Anrak said. "She doesn't mean it literally-"

"_RANGIKUUUUUUUUUUU! _" screamed a voice coming from the Squad 10 headquarters.

"Actually, I kinda _did_…" she grinned sheepishly. "Anyway, I've got to run… If my captain asks, you haven't seen me."

With that, the blonde fled the Grand Mess, leaving her tray on the table and her three friends sitting there in disbelief.

"…I can't help it; I've _got_ to go see this." declared Rukia, standing up. "Nel?"

"Well, I-" she began, but Anrak cut her off.

"Actually, Neliel and I need to talk for a minute." he said, finishing off the last of his chow.

Rukia nodded and left to go deposit her and Rangiku's trays before heading off to look at the Squad 10 HQ's shiny new paint job.

Anrak pushed his tray off to the side as Nel tried to sit up straight to look him in the eye, and he smiled softly at her.

"I promise, it gets better over time." he assured her.

The woman mumbled an acknowledgement and rubbed at her eyes, muttering something about the room being too bright today.

"Anyway, I have something for you, if you want it…" said Anrak, pulling an item wrapped in white cloth from inside his shihakushō.

"An, that's so sweet of you…" smiled Nel as cheerfully as she could as Anrak slid it across the table to her and waited for her to unwrap it.

Carefully, Neliel peeled back the white cloth to reveal that the cloth was actually an armband connected to a small wooden crest with the kanji for the number 'thirteen' engraved into the top portion, and a snowdrop flower at the bottom. She looked up at Anrak with confusion playing across her face.

"This looks like a lieutenant's badge… Why do you have this? I thought only captains could issue these…" she asked slowly before comprehension dawned in her eyes. "An, does this mean…?"

He nodded silently, and her eyes widened further.

"Congratulations, An!" she exclaimed loudly, nearly jumping out of her seat before hunching back over and holding her head again. "Ow…"

"A lieutenant should be someone strong enough to take care of the division in the absence of their captain…" Anrak began. "They should be skilled in combat arts and able to help teach their subordinates. They should be knowledgeable about tactics and strategy. But most important of all, they should be someone that the captain can trust completely."

He fixed his gaze on her, locking eyes.

"You meet all those criteria, Neliel. There's absolutely no one I'd rather have with me than you."

The arrancar blushed, taken aback slightly by his declaration.

"But I'm not actually a shinigami…" she started slowly.

"Doesn't matter; Yachiru never went to the academy, neither did Lieutenant Kurotsuchi, but they still hold their positions."

"An, this is a pretty big decision…"

"Hai, I know. Take some time to think it over. I'll be calling for a squad meeting at oh-nine hundred tomorrow to meet the division, if you're interested."

Nel nodded, folding the cloth armband back around the wooden crest before stuffing it inside her top as Anrak stood to leave.

"Go drink some hot tea and get some rest." he said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder and squeezing gently before departing. "You'll feel better after you get up."

"Promise?" she asked, smiling up at him weakly.

"Hai, _koibito_; I promise." he said, squeezing her shoulder one last time before walking off.

Neliel laid her head back down on the table for a few seconds, feeling reluctant to even _try_ and stand up, and then a thought occurred to her.

"Wait…" she said, raising her head back up, "Did you just call me…?"

But the shinigami was already long gone, and there was no one to answer her unfinished question.

"Must be the sake…" she mumbled, laying back down.

* * *

It was, he thought, a good thing he'd never been one for collecting useless trinkets.

It had taken Anrak all of about fifteen minutes to pack up his few belongings and secure them all in his footlocker, leaving the room virtually empty save for the small bed in the corner that was still Squad 11 property. Anrak took one last look around before he stepped out the door with his footlocker…only to be ambushed by Satsu and Takk.

"Hi, boss!" declared Satsu cheerfully from behind, and Anrak nearly dropped the heavy trunk in surprise.

"Don't _do_ that!" he growled, and Takk slapped his younger brother upside the head.

"We heard there were some promotions today… Guess it's true." said the elder of the two brothers as he eyed the footlocker and leaned against the wall. "Where'd they put you?"

"Squad 13… Was going to take over Ichimaru's division, but there was some debate about that."

"Wait…" said Satsu, still rubbing the back of his skull. "Who are _we_ getting then? I mean, we kinda thought you'd end up with us."

"You get Renji… Kinda surprised he hasn't already told you himself."

"He's probably out celebrating…" said Takk and all three men instantly cast nervous glances up towards the rooftops.

"What about the substitute guy? He get promoted, too?" asked Satsu, still keeping a watchful eye open for a drunken Renji.

"He'll be with Squad 9, working part-time under Lieutenant Hisagi." said Anrak, finally setting the heavy trunk down to talk with his friends. "He didn't want to just give up his life in the human world and stay here, and I can't say that I blame him."

"Yeah, that's a tough sales pitch to make, I'm sure." agreed Takk. "All you have to do is throw away your friends, your family, a good seventy or eighty years worth of life and whatever career you were thinking about pursuing and just _die_, and you too can be a captain of the Gotei 13!"

Despite his sarcasm, Takk had been pretty spot-on with what the offer had been like for Kurosaki, and Anrak gave a short laugh. It really did sound ridiculous once he stopped to think about it, but at least old man Yamamoto had admitted that he had expected Ichigo to say no.

"You should wear that bed sheet until your haori is ready." suggested Satsu with a grin as he went to pick up the trunk for his friend, but he was suddenly knocked away from it by a pair of shinigami who quickly began to bicker over who was going to carry it.

"_I'll _carry this for you, my Captain!" declared the larger of the two, trying to pick up the trunk, but the smaller blonde-headed one grabbed onto a carrying strap and began to pull on it violently.

"No, let _me_ carry it for you, Captain!" she cried as she engaged in a game of tug-of-war with the larger male.

"Who the hell are you two idiots?" growled Takk as he reached down and hoisted his brother back up to his feet.

"Third-Seat Sentarō Kotsubaki, Squad 13!" announced the male soul reaper proudly.

"And I'm Third-Seat Kiyone Kotetsu of Squad 13!" declared the female, jumping in front of her companion to ensure that she was the center of attention.

"_Two_ Third-Seats?" asked Takk as the two officers went back to squabbling over who was going to carry the trunk.

"So it would seem…" said Anrak dryly as he watched the bickering continue for several agonizing seconds.

"Enough!" he cried finally, causing the two shinigami to freeze in their tracks, each still grasping a handle on the foot locker. "_I'll_ carry it."

"But Captain-"

"Captain, I can-"

"No arguments!" he declared, prying the heavy object from their hands. "Look, I appreciate your enthusiasm, I really do, but I do _not_ want bickering over trivial things; neither of you have anything to prove, and in the future, I would much prefer it if you'd work _together _instead of trying to out-do each other."

Both officers looked at their feet and apologized, and Anrak nodded in approval, hoping that this would be the end of it.

Takk, meanwhile, looked like he wanted to hit the both of them.

"I would _greatly_ appreciate if you two would go make sure the rest of the squad knows that we will be having a meeting in the morning so that I can introduce myself to everyone. Can you do that for me?" he asked with a smile, hoping to get them clear before Takk gave in to his impulses.

"Yes, Captain!"

"Right away, Captain!"

He watched as the two of them rushed off to spread the news, and he could hear Takk growling off to the side.

"Those two are really annoying." said the younger man finally.

"Give them a break; I'm sure they'll get over this competitive thing soon enough."

"If they don't, can I beat them up?"

"No, no you can't."

"God damn it."

* * *

It was late in the evening when his haori was finally delivered, but at least it had all quieted down finally; as news had spread around the Seireitei, Anrak had gone through a steady stream of visitors throughout the afternoon, ranging from Jean from Squad 6 to Enjeru to Rangiku to Ikkaku and Yumichika.

Kyōraku had been the last to visit, and the two of them had talked for the better part of two hours, with the elder Captain giving him advice on how to lead a squad and telling him exactly how they'd reached the decision to grant him the position.

Strangely enough, Zaraki had actually been his most vocal supporter according to Shunsui.

Anrak had been surprised to hear that, to say the least. He'd been in Zaraki's imposing shadow for so long, it was hard to fathom the bloodthirsty captain actually supporting him.

Then again, after their duel, he was pretty sure Zaraki had thrown away all notions of Anrak being a weakling.

Kuchiki and Kurotsuchi had been staunchly opposed to the idea, which hadn't really come as a great surprise; Byakuya Kuchiki held a very elitist view on what it meant to be a captain, and was known to think poorly of several of his peers.

And Kurotsuchi, of course, was just an ass.

Kyōraku mentioned that Soifon had seemed highly reluctant to vote for him, maintaining an angry silence throughout most of the discussion, and that Captain Unohana had praised Anrak as being "a remarkably kind and gentle person given the environment he's had to work in for the past century."

Hitsugaya and Komamura had been on the fence until the final vote, waiting to hear all the pros and cons before announcing their decision.

He understood that, as the new guy, he was on relatively thin ice and had to watch himself, had to be careful not to make any major mistakes, but he was determined to do the job to the best of his ability. He was thankful that at least he knew that Kyōraku and Zaraki were firmly entrenched in his corner, even if any kind of "helpful advice" from Zaraki would entail physical violence.

Carefully, Anrak unfolded the fresh haori and slid it on in front of a full-length mirror. It fit perfectly, as was to be expected from a tailor-made item. Traditionally the inner lining of the haori for Squad 13's captain was red, but he'd allowed Kagi to talk him into requesting a midnight blue and now that he could actually see the finished product, he was glad he'd taken her advice for once; red simply wasn't his color and the shift in colors was a sign that he was a different person than the late Captain Ukitake.

He adjusted the brown leather _tekkou_ bracers that he wore underneath his standard shihakushō, though only the handguard portion was even exposed to view, smiling at the image. Yoruichi would be proud, of that he was sure.

_I want out!_

_**Excuse me?**_

_Let me out; I want to see it for myself. Don't forget this is _our_ victory, not just yours._

Anrak nodded, knowing that the spirit, his life-long partner, was right; this was a moment to savor together.

He withdrew the physical blade from it's scabbard slowly, and forced Kagi from her inner world out into the open. Shadows spilled out from the scabbard as he drew the blade, pouring onto the floor and slinking off to a poorly-lit corner of the room where they began to coalesce into a physical form.

Within seconds, Kagi stepped out from the dark corner, stretching her arms out and popping her neck.

"It's been _so_ long since you've let me out…" she complained as she approached.

"You don't work or play well with others; what do you expect?"

Kagi gave an indignant snort; she had never been one to play nicely and that wasn't likely to change in this lifetime. She stepped closer to Anrak and made a show of walking around him to inspect his new look.

"Black would look better." she announced finally as she fingered the white haori thoughtfully and Anrak just rolled his eyes.

"On you, maybe."

"On me, _definitely_." smiled Kagi devilishly. "But, I suppose the white is fine for you. I'll have to make some changes to our bankai now, though."

"A helmet?" he asked as he turned to face her, his hopes triumphing over past experience.

"Baka, with as thick as your skull is, you don't _need_ a helmet." growled Kagi. "No, no helmet. But you'll see it when I'm done."

"Wonderful." he sighed, turning back to the mirror.

He was a little nervous about what the morning sun would bring, and hoped that Neliel would accept his offer to be his lieutenant; not only was she his first choice, she was pretty much the_ only _choice he was aware of at the moment.

A nightmare image of Satsu with a lieutenant's badge flashed through his mind, and he shuddered involuntarily.

No, no, no, _no_.

His thoughts were interrupted by a dark reiatsu swelling in the room and he sighed, not even bothering to turn around towards the source.

"I thought you said you did that while I sleep…"

"I did when you didn't know about it." came Kagi's distorted voice. "But now that you do…"

"Please take it off."

"Mm, I thought you'd _never_ ask, lover." she purred.

"I _meant_ the mask." he growled, turning to face her.

"This is a necessary evil, you know; if I don't maintain my dominance over the hollow, it might get loose." she stated very matter-of-factly, piercing yellow eyes locked onto his. "I don't like this thing any more than you do."

He wanted to ask how long she had to wear it to keep control of her darker side, but a knock at the door brought on a new set of problems.

"Oh, _please_ be that green-haired-" hissed Kagi gleefully, cracking her knuckles. Anrak was quite sure that she was grinning sadistically underneath the mask, and he didn't even _want_ to imagine what sort of thoughts were swirling about in her twisted mind.

It was his will that kept her in the physical world, and so he instantly relaxed and allowed for the spirit to be pulled back into her dark inner world, cutting her off abruptly.

_You could have _warned _me you were going to do that_, she snarled, the distortion of her voice finally gone and the dark reiatsu fading away into something more normal.

"Sorry…" he muttered aloud, striding over to the door and sliding it open to reveal Yoruichi, who was holding a jug of fine sake and grinning ear to ear. With a smile, he stepped to the side and welcomed her in, hugging her tightly.

"Thank you…" he said before she had time to speak. "Thank you for _everything_. I wouldn't be here now without you, Yoruichi."

Her grin widened, but she otherwise shrugged the thanks off.

"I'm just happy to see that you kept your promise." she said. "And I _hope_ this one isn't too tight in the shoulders for you."

He laughed as he motioned for her to take a seat, taking one himself directly across from her.

"They're just right, thanks." he said, pulling out a pair of sake cups and watching her fill them.

"Ichigo told me when he came back to Karakura… Congratulations, _Captain_ Ushii." she smiled, clinking her sake cup against his in a toast before downing it's contents.

Anrak gulped down the contents of his own cup, feeling it burn it's way down his throat and warm his belly.

"You've come a long way since that night we met…" mused his sister as she refilled their cups.

"I'm a different person now, thanks to you."

"No," she corrected, "not different; just stronger. I can still see that good-hearted kid in you, in your eyes… You're just not a pushover anymore."

"I dreamt about the first time we met last night." he admitted, swirling the sake around in his cup, and Yoruichi laughed.

"It's funny; you dreamt about that, and last night _I_ dreamt of the day I took you under my wing. Do you remember that day?"

"Kind of hard to forget…"

* * *

_**-Seireitei, 109 Years Ago-**_

It was a beautiful day, far too beautiful to spend cooped up in the office wasting time with pointless paperwork.

It was also far too beautiful a day to spend time training like a madman, but she'd been unable to convince Soifon of that and so Yoruichi was left to wander the Seireitei and look for something worth doing all alone

Soifon tried so hard to improve, so hard to impress her captain… It was a shame that the younger woman was unable to accept that she was fine just the way she was, that Yoruichi didn't need her to work herself to death in order to be noticed.

If nothing else, Soifon's intense drive ensured that she'd make Captain herself some day, and Yoruichi was looking forward to seeing her young friend with her own haori.

Perhaps she should visit Shunsui today… The elder captain always knew how to take it easy, and he certainly appreciated beautiful days like this. There was no way he'd be caught doing paperwork in this weather; no, he was probably sitting under a sakura tree enjoying some sake right about-

Yoruichi frowned as she turned the corner and saw a trio of shinigami beating one of their peers into a bloody pulp. There was little doubt that they were from Squad 11, as this sort of behavior was just standard operating procedure for them, and their hapless victim was most likely someone from Squad 4 again.

She was about to go and break up the fight when the three finally stopped and took a step back, and as the battered youth on the ground began to try and crawl away, the captain finally recognized his face.

"Anrak…" she muttered to herself. She'd met the kid months ago when they had literally ran into one another, and she'd encountered him several times since then. He was always careful to greet her as "Captain Shihōin" in front of other officers, but when none were present, he always remembered to just call her Yoruichi as she preferred.

He was a good soul, always friendly and respectful, even if he was weak.

At least his tormentors were done, and for that, she was thankful-

-and no sooner had that thought crossed her mind than the three began stomping the junior soul reaper into oblivion once more.

Enough was enough.

In an instant, the Goddess of Flash was over there, grabbing the first assailant by his head and slamming it into the wall with enough force to knock him out. The second man never even had time to realize what was happening as her foot connected with his midsection, breaking ribs and sending him flying across the street and through a storage shed wall.

The third had barely registered that something was horribly, horribly wrong and turned to throw a punch towards the newcomer, and in a split second he'd been put on the ground with his shoulder dislocated and his elbow completely shattered.

Yoruichi turned to check on the helpless rookie, but by this point he had been reduced to an unconscious broken and bloodied mess. Without a second thought, she picked him up and headed for the infirmary.

* * *

Anrak groaned as he came to, his body wracked with more pain than he'd ever thought possible in his wildest nightmares.

"You're safe now… Just relax." said a gentle voice from above him, and he strained to make out the face.

"C-captain Unohana?" he asked, uncertain if he could trust his blurry vision.

"Yes… You look like you've had a rough day."

"I don't…what _happened_ to me?"

"Captain Shihōin brought you in a little while ago…she didn't say what happened."

"Yoruichi…" he blurted without thinking. "She doesn't like titles…"

Unohana gave a light laugh and smiled down at him.

"You're right, of course…" she said, placing a hand over his eyes. "Now get some rest while I take care of these wounds…"

The world went black on him again, but at least this time, he didn't feel so afraid.

* * *

The memories of the days events had become cloudy, and Anrak had trouble remembering exactly where he was when he opened his eyes next.

He didn't think he was in the barracks, as there wasn't enough noise for it; the barracks of Squad 11 were always overly loud, almost like a madhouse. This place was quiet and peaceful by comparison, and aside from the aches in his body, was a welcome change of pace.

Then there was the matter of him being in an actual bed rather than on his dingy little sleeping mat…

"So, you're finally awake?" asked a voice off to the side.

He turned his head and caught a glimpse of a tall woman with dark skin and a white haori entering the room, which he now recognized as a hospital room.

"Yoruichi…" he croaked, and she smiled at him.

"Yeah, it's me…" she said, taking a seat in the chair beside the bed. "You mind telling me what happened to you today?"

He frowned, trying to think back. It was mostly a haze of blood and pain, images of feet slamming into his chest and stomach and face, the sound of yelling and cursing…

"Rankings…" he said at last. "This week, we've been holding practice matches against each other to determine our Zanjutsu rankings… I placed first above all the other unseated squad members. When the scores were announced, I was so happy, so _proud_… I thought maybe they'd accept me now, but a few of them caught me later, and…"

"I see…" nodded the captain. "They took out their rage on you."

"I thought they were going to beat me to death…" Anrak said slowly. "I cried and begged for them to stop, I apologized over and over, but they didn't let up."

"Those three won't bother you again; I had a little…_talk_ with them."

"Thank you." he said graciously, offering her a weak smile as he noticed the crimson stains on her haori for the first time.

"They won't be the last to come after you, though… You're going to have to learn to stand up for yourself more." warned Yoruichi.

"What am I going to do? I don't think _they're_ going to help me any time soon… Maybe I should just run away; I have no business being a soul reaper!"

"Don't even _think_ about that!" admonished Yoruichi harshly, perhaps more harshly than she should have. It was Squad 2's duty to track down AWOL shinigami and either bring them back to the Seireitei by force or execute them as traitors and the absolute _last_ thing she wanted was to be forced to kill this poor kid or throw him into the Maggot's Nest, the infamous prison for ex-shinigami and other dangerous individuals.

"I'm sorry!" he apologized, shrinking back underneath her tone.

"Look," she said, softening her voice once more, "life in the Seireitei can be very hard for a young shinigami, even brutal at times. It's very 'sink or swim' around here, and you're sinking fast. I'm going to help you change that."

"How? What can _you_ do? You're the captain of a different division!"

"I'm going to teach you how to swim."

* * *

_**-Seireitei, Present Day-**_

He'd let his mind wander back to that afternoon so long ago as their conversation continued well into the night.

At first, Anrak had thought Yoruichi was crazy, but she had taken him to the training grounds beneath Sōkyoku Hill and taught him _shunpo_, as well as the hand-to-hand techniques that had helped save him from many future beatings. He'd never been able to come anywhere remotely close to beating her, but she had taught him well, and for that he was eternally grateful.

She had also been the one to teach him about concealing his _reiatsu_ shortly before her disappearance, and that had come in very handy as well.

It was also underneath Sōkyoku Hill that she had first referred to Anrak as her "little brother."

It had started as a joke, but as the days turned into weeks and the weeks grew into months, it had ceased to be a joke and become something more real.

She was his sister _now_, and exactly how it had happened was as of little consequence as the fact they didn't share any blood; if anyone _ever_ hurt Yoruichi, Anrak would kill anything and anyone that dared get between him and his vengeance.

When she'd vanished from the Seireitei without warning, he'd been devastated. He'd refused to believe the propaganda that she and Kisuke had turned traitor, and the first few times Anrak had volunteered for the long, lonely sojourn missions out into the Rukon had mostly been an excuse to look for her.

It took twenty years before he finally accepted that he was likely to never see her again, but still he continued to accept the sojourns; the time away from his squad let him train in peace and grow stronger…and there was always the faint hope that maybe, just maybe, he'd find Yoruichi one day.

"Soifon said they're trimming the academy down from a six-year program to a four-year program… Getting a bunch of half-trained rookies will be a challenge even for the older captains like Shunsui; how are _you _going to handle it?" asked the former captain finally, setting her sake cup down.

"A long time ago, someone very wise once told me that life as a soul reaper was very 'sink or swim.'" he began slowly, looking up from his own cup and pausing momentarily to smile at his sister.

"Oh?" asked Yoruichi with a knowing grin.

"I'm going to make sure my squad knows how to swim."


	29. Snapshots

**Snapshots: The First 30 Days**

**Day 1**

It was nearly oh-nine hundred and Anrak was busy pacing back and forth in his new office in nervous anticipation; it was his first day on the job and this would be his first impression…everything had to go smoothly, or else it would likely take months to repair the damage.

_No pressure_, Kagi soothed sarcastically.

Further compounding the issue was the fact that Neliel hadn't shown up yet, either… She'd been told to take a few days to consider the offer, but in truth he'd expected her to show up bright and early, ready to face the crowd alongside him.

The crowd… He'd came in a couple of hours earlier and began to skim through as many personnel files as he could, trying to memorize names and their corresponding faces to make the upcoming meeting easier, but two hours wasn't nearly enough time to memorize all one hundred and seventy-three squad members.

Closing the current folder and putting it on his desk, Anrak departed the office and strode towards the Division 13 Assembly Hall. He carefully timed and measured each step so as to not appear too eager or too nervous to any who might see him, forcing himself to control his breathing in an effort to calm his nerves.

Truthfully, he wasn't sure if he was more worried about trying to assume command or the prospect of public speaking; sure, he'd taken command at the North Gate during the battle for the Seireitei, but the shinigami there had been wanting a commander to step forward and there was no guarantee that the soul reapers of Squad 13 were ready to accept a new captain just yet.

Pausing outside the door to the Assembly Hall, he took one last deep breath to brace himself, wondering as he did so if Yoruichi had felt such apprehension on her first day as Captain, or Shunsui, or any of the others.

He consoled himself with the knowledge that over in Division 5, Renji was probably feeling just as flustered right about now, if not more so. He smiled briefly at the thought and it helped calm his nerves just enough to do what he had to.

Pushing all other thoughts away, Anrak slid the door open and stepped inside. He didn't pause to look at the mass of shinigami before him, and instead began to walk purposefully towards the front of the room and the small raised dais there, noting as he did that the sea of soul reapers parted respectfully to clear his path.

It wasn't until he stepped onto the dais that he turned out to look upon the gathered men and women of Squad 13, all waiting anxiously to hear what their captain had to say. He kept his face impassive as he scanned the room, looking everyone over carefully and seeking out the few familiar faces he _did_ know; Rukia, Kiyone, and Sentarō. The fact that there were at least a few people he knew present would make this somewhat easier, he thought.

"Good morning…" he began loudly, silently marveling at how the acoustics of the room amplified the sound of his voice even further. "My name is Anrak Ushii and starting today, I will be your new captain."

He paused a moment there to let that sink in.

"Please understand, I am not a replacement for Captain Ukitake; no one can ever truly replace a man of his stature. Instead, I am here to try and pick up where he left off; I'm a different person and I have different ways of doing things, but it's important to me that I _not _disrespect his memory in the process of doing this job. As such, I will not be reassigning any officers that he appointed, and neither will I be changing any of your individual units around."

A few sighs of relief could be heard in the crowd and Anrak suppressed a smile as he continued.

_**I think I've successfully hurdled the first obstacle…**_

"For those of you that don't know, I have spent the past century in Squad 11…"

_And you just tripped over the second, baka._

He could almost hear people swallowing nervously, terrified of what it meant to have one of Zaraki's barbarians as their new captain. He clasped his hands behind his back and began to walk along the edge of the dais slowly as he resumed speaking, refusing to allow Kagi's remark to faze him.

"I learned a lot during my time there and not all of it was from Captain Zaraki; I had the pleasure of meeting Yoruichi Shihōin, the former captain of Squad 2, during my early years in the Seireitei and I have learned much from her. We remain close to this day and she _continues_ to teach me new things. In the past few months, I have also gotten to know Captain Kyōraku of Squad 8 quite well, and as with Yoruichi, I continue to learn new things from him as well. What this means is that you will _not_ be getting a clone of Captain Zaraki here; it is my goal to take the best of what I have learned from each of these sources and apply them here to strengthen both you as individuals and the squad as a whole."

Again he paused for a brief second, letting the shinigami mutter amongst themselves for a moment as to what he meant.

"Combat skills are important, so expect there to be a revamp of the squad training regimen in the coming weeks, emphasizing your swordsmanship, unarmed skills, flash step, kidō, and physical conditioning."

A collective groan could be heard from the audience.

"Don't worry." Anrak added with a reassuring smile, "I don't intend to make this regimen ridiculously harsh. I simply want to make sure that everyone here is fully capable of defending themselves in nearly _any _situation. The first month will be the hardest, but we will all adjust together and change things as needed; if the regimen turns out to be too hard, rest assured that it will be toned down to a more acceptable level for everyone."

Another sigh of relief from the gathered squad members.

"Know that I intend to be available to you all if anyone has any concerns. I understand that Captain Ukitake had an open and friendly relationship with this Division and I fully intend to honor that tradition; if at _any_ time you need something, please don't hesitate to come find me, regardless of what the time is; if you absolutely need to speak with me at three in the morning, then please don't be afraid to come to my quarters and wake me."

He felt a lot of the tension ease out of the room and he felt confident that they would be willing to give him a fair shot now.

_I'll admit it; I'm somewhat impressed. I thought you'd be too much of a babbling, nervous wreck to make this presentation work._

_**Thanks for the vote of**_** confidence**, Anrak shot back sourly.

"Now then," he said aloud to the crowd, "Any questions?"

The room was silent as the gathered men and women contemplated if there was anything terribly important to ask and for several long moments no one stirred. He was just about ready to dismiss them all to go about their usual duties when a hand slowly raised up from the middle of the crowd and someone asked about the open lieutenant's position.

"I'd hoped to have it filled today…" Anrak admitted honestly. "I have offered the position to someone, but-"

"Wait! I'm here, I'm sorry!" called a frantic voice from the back of the room, and all eyes turned to the source of the disturbance; a green-haired woman wearing a standard black shihakushō, with a partial hollow mask perched on top of her head.

Neliel slid the door closed behind her and bowed apologetically to the room and Anrak waved for her to come forward and stand on the dais beside him.

"I'm sorry for being late…" she explained as the crowd parted to make a path for her, "but I couldn't find a shihakushō in my size at the division quartermaster, so I had to run and borrow one from Rangiku…I mean, Lieutenant Matsumoto."

Anrak favored her with a smile, happy to see her and happy to see that she wasn't wearing the uniform as…_suggestively_ as Rangiku did. As she climbed up on the dais, he took a step back and gestured for her to introduce herself.

"My name is Neliel Tu Odelschvank," she announced to the crowd, her voice taking on a more serious, confident tone than she normally used, "and I will be your new Lieutenant… I know some people have trouble pronouncing my last name, so it's okay to just call me Lieutenant Nel."

The tension in the room had returned and Anrak noticed that all eyes were focused on Nel's mask. They knew what she was and no one else in the room aside from Rukia was sure an arrancar could be trusted.

"I am a hollow." Nel admitted, demonstrating that she was well aware of the crowd's mood. "I am an arrancar, and once upon a time, I served Aizen as the _Tres_ Espada."

Yeah, _that_ didn't help things much and Anrak could feel hostility began to emanate from the audience. He tensed up, hoping the gathered shinigami wouldn't degenerate into an angry mob.

"I served Aizen reluctantly and my disagreements with my fellow Espada and with Aizen himself eventually led to me being exiled into the desert of Hueco Mundo and left for dead. It was during the First Invasion that I met up with Ichigo Kurosaki, Renji Abarai, and Rukia Kuchiki, and it was then that I made the choice to throw my lot in with the Soul Society. I fought against my former comrades during that battle and was granted asylum in the Seireitei for my actions. Since my arrival here, I have helped repel the hollow attacks in the Rukon Battles and participated in the second raid on Hueco Mundo…and I regret _none_ of it."

The crowd's hostility towards Neliel was beginning to dissipate and give way to some kind of nervous understanding and Anrak felt more at ease. He didn't want to be forced to break up a riot over his choice of lieutenants and for a moment that had been a very real fear.

_Well,_ I_ certainly wouldn't object if they wanted to lynch her…_

**_Hush_.**_  
_

"I've known Captain Ushii for several months now and in that time, we have fought side-by-side several times. I trust the captain entirely and fully support his endeavors and I'm not just happy to have this chance to help him; I'm _honored_. I know you don't know me yet and that you don't trust me, but I hope that will change over the next few weeks; my loyalty is to my captain and this squad now and I will lay down my life for any one of you without hesitation."

Having said her peace, Nel quietly stepped back and let Anrak take center stage again.

"I understand that these are some big changes and that this will be a difficult transition for all of us," he began, "but I want everyone to do their best to make this work. Please be patient with the Lieutenant and myself, and with each other, and in a month or so, we should all be settled in to each other's routines."

He braced himself silently for the next announcement, which he anticipated would be unpopular…

"To ensure that _everyone_ gives this transition a fair chance, all requests to transfer out will be automatically denied for the first thirty days, no exceptions. If at the end of those thirty days you are _still _unable to cope with these changes, then you can come find me and we will sit down together to discuss your options."

A murmur rippled through the crowd then and Anrak knew he'd upset a few people. Undoubtedly a few had begun considering transferring when he admitted to being from Squad 11, and more when he announced a new training regimen, but he was pretty sure that most of those who were angry had been considering a transfer because of Neliel; he'd known the idea of having an arrancar as a lieutenant would be unpopular from the start, but he was determined to help them all get past their prejudice and see Nel as he did.

…well, maybe not _exactly_ as he saw her, since he didn't want anyone competing with him for her attention, but he at least wanted everyone to see that she was just as…_human_ as any of them, if not more so.

"Any more questions?" he asked, and the room answered him with silence and he nodded in approval.

"Squad dismissed, then."

* * *

**Day 3**

They'd spent all of yesterday and most of today in the office hammering out the new training regimen and rotation schedule for chores within the squad, and aside from the fact that neither Anrak or Nel could lead the division in kidō training, everything was looking pretty good.

Well, the kidō training would have to wait a while, unless-

A knock sounded at the door and before Anrak could even call for the guest to enter, the door slid open and Captain Kurotsuchi barged in, carrying Neliel's zanpaktou with him.

"It's finally finished?" she asked excitedly, running around to the front of her desk to accept it, and she wasted no time in drawing it from it's pale-green scabbard and examining it.

"Yes, yes… Fixing the blade to purify hollows was mere child's play! The blade of a shinigami resonates on a different frequency than an arrancar's zanpaktou, so it was a simple matter of re-tuning the blade to resonate on the correct frequency." explained Kurotsuchi, snatching the sword back from Neliel in irritation.

"The pommel was a bit more challenging, however…" he said, letting the tip of the blade point towards the polished wood floor as he showed off the new end cap. "It wasn't _just_ a matter of changing the resonance frequency to allow for konsō; first I had to take it apart and completely re-forge this piece, and _then_ I had to-"

Anrak and Neliel were both smiling and nodding by this point, letting the captain ramble on and on about how much of a genius he was. If there was _anyone_ who loved the sound of their own voice more than Mayuri Kurotsuchi, Anrak had yet to meet them.

It was several minutes later before he finally finished babbling and handed Neliel her zanpaktou back, and as she slid the re-sheathed blade into it's place on her hip, Anrak was amazed at how much she looked like a true shinigami now.

…mask notwithstanding, of course.

"Now there's just the matter of the 'Satisfaction Survey' I'd like you to take…" said the clown-faced captain as he pulled a folded piece of paper from inside his haori and handed it to Neliel.

Anrak had never heard of Squad 12 doing 'satisfaction surveys' before, and his curiosity led him to peek over Nel's shoulder at the form and exactly what it said.

"What the hell…" he asked, confusion playing across his face. "That's _not_ Japanese! How is she supposed to-"

"Done!" announced Nel cheerily, handing the paper back to Kurotsuchi, who snatched it away greedily and began to examine it.

"Done?" asked Anrak, now more confused than before, "How? Nel, I don't know what language that was, but it _wasn't _Japanese."

"…it wasn't?" she asked, blinking.

"Of _course_ it wasn't!" cackled Kurotsuchi. "It was all in German, and you filled it out _perfectly_! You may not _consciously_ remember your life before you became a hollow, but you clearly remember some elements of it. This is interesting, very interesting; I wonder what _else_ you might remember without knowing it…"

Kurotsuchi excused himself from the office, still mumbling to himself about how "fascinating" this new discovery was, leaving Anrak and Nel standing in the office, dumbfounded. Finally, a very confused Nel turned to her Captain and most trusted friend…

"What's a German?"

* * *

**Day 7**

A healthy division had always maintained two hundred and forty shinigami, at least until they all reached the _new_ sizes of three hundred and twenty, anyway, and those two-hundred forty had always been broken down further into thirty units consisting of eight individuals apiece.

Of course, with the losses from the war, there were no completely intact squads and precious few intact units.

Most of the squad had already been given their assignments for the day, save for the last four units, which totaled out to only twenty-two people.

Today was the first day of the new training regimen, sans the kidō portion, and the other units had all been sent to practice their zanjutsu, hakudo, and shunpo, while a few had been sent to aid the recovery efforts in the Rukon, and three squads had been dispatched to the human world, to cities in countries he'd never even _heard _of before today.

At least the old man had been serious about going global with their patrols…

These last four units had drawn body conditioning for today and would be under Neliel's supervision once he dismissed them, and he watched as they all began to pick up the weighted backpacks that had set aside for them all. They were only ninety pounds apiece since he didn't want to kill anyone, but the backpacks were only a small portion of the exercise.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen," he announced once everyone had their packs on, "I want twenty laps around the Division; this is to build raw muscle, speed, and endurance."

"Twenty laps? With these weights?" cried one soul reaper, "Captain, this is _too_ much! Can't we work our way up?"

"I have to agree…" said Nel, moving to stand between the shinigami and her captain. "An, this is too much for them to start out with; please be reasonable!"

"Twenty laps!" he commanded, letting his reiatsu flare up for a moment. "This is _not_ open for debate!"

"No." said Nel defiantly, "I'm _not_ going to put these men through that just yet. Five laps is all I'll make them do."

"That's _not_ your decision, Lieutenant." Anrak growled.

"I have a responsibility to look out for them, the same as you do. I know you're just doing what you think is best, but so am I! Please, Captain, work with me on this!"

There was a long, angry silence as the two glared at each other and finally Nel's face softened slightly.

"Can you meet me in the middle, at least? Say, ten laps instead of twenty?" she bargained and behind her, Anrak could see the twenty-two soul reapers looking hopeful, silently pleading for some mercy from their new captain.

"Fine…" he sighed, defeated. "Ten laps it is, but make them count!"

The gathered men all answered with a loud "Yes, Sir! Thank you, Sir!" and began to file out of the room as Neliel grabbed a backpack herself and fell into step with them. She paused momentarily at the door to let the others run on ahead, looking back and favoring Anrak with one of her cheesy grins, to which he just winked in return.

It was all a scam, pure and simple, one Anrak had concocted earlier before they'd left the office and one Nel had been unsure of; she didn't like the idea of deceiving the troops, but this entire charade had been designed to make her appear to be the "hero" of the squad while Anrak took the fall and played the role of the "Squad 11 hard ass" everyone expected him to be.

Truthfully, ten laps was all he ever wanted them to do, but instead of coming out and saying so, he had felt this was a prime opportunity to get the squad to start trusting Neliel.

And it had worked _beautifully_.

Ten laps with an added ninety pounds a piece would be a good workout for them all, and although they should probably be done by noon at the latest, they had all day to complete the laps, so there was no big rush. If they did finish early, Nel had been tasked with leading them through a few more exercises to make they got the most out of their training.

Of course, he know that she would take it easy on them and that was _exactly_ what the captain wanted.

Anrak allowed himself a tight smile as he left the Assembly Hall and headed past the Dojo, towards the Sword Hall and the soul reapers there who were awaiting his arrival.

* * *

**Day 12**

He sat in the floor on one side of a small table, forcing a smile and playing nice while the other man calmly poured him a cup of hot tea. Going through this crap wasn't exactly something Anrak _wanted_ to do, but it was a necessary evil.

Across from him sat Captain Byakuya Kuchiki, who sat the teapot down and handed the other captain his cup, to which Anrak forced another smile and a polite nod.

They were in the headquarters for Division 6, in Captain Kuchiki's personal office, and Anrak felt very uncomfortable and out of place around all the expensive-looking vases and items that decorated the room. He'd come to discuss Rukia Kuchiki, Byakuya's adopted sister and Anrak's new subordinate, and while he had hoped this meeting would be quick and painless, so far it had been anything _but_.

"No." said Captain Kuchiki after taking a sip from his teacup, _finally_ answering the question Anrak had posed five minutes earlier.

"No?" asked Anrak in disbelief, "What do you mean 'no?' She _deserves_ this, and you know it!"

"What she deserves is not the point." said the elder captain coolly, "I do not want her moving to a seated officer position for her own protection; I made a vow to look after her and I shall honor that."

This was absolutely unreal to Anrak; despite Rukia's accomplishments, Byakuya was adamant about keeping her down with the unranked shinigami, even having gone as far as to make a deal with all the other captains in order to prevent her from ever being promoted. Worse still, she didn't _know_ about it, and instead thought that she wasn't good enough!

Anrak took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, trying to keep his temper in check as he forced yet another smile and took a sip of his own tea, all the while imagining his hands clasped tightly around the prissy noble's neck.

_Do it!_ urged Kagi inside his head, _I can take that sissy Senbonzakura any day!_

_**You're **_**not**_** helping.**_

_The hell I'm not!_

"Hush…" he growled under his breath as he sat his teacup back down, and Byakuya raised a finely-manicured eyebrow in question.

"Not you, Captain…" Anrak clarified, "My zanpaktou is being a little mouthy at the moment."

"A true captain should have perfect control over his zanpaktou and it's behavior at all times." stated Kuchiki, his words a verbal slap to the new captain's face. It took every last ounce of self-control Anrak had to _not_ launch himself across the table at the other man.

_**Arrogant son of a…**_

"My issues with _Kage Shitsukoi _notwithstanding, I'd like you to reconsider the offer, Captain; it's the last seated position I have available and there is absolutely _no one_ more qualified than Rukia. It would be a shame to see it go to a less-deserving and less-powerful shinigami." said Anrak as pleasantly as he could manage, pushing the cup of tea away from him and towards the center of the table to indicate he was finished.

As expected, Kuchiki said nothing, letting his silence tell Captain Ushii that he was dismissed.

Sighing, Anrak stood and turned to leave, pausing for a moment just outside the door.

"I'll hold the position open for her for five days, Captain. If you change your mind during that time, either let me know directly or tell Rukia that I need to speak with her."

Nothing.

"Thanks for the tea." he said flatly, closing the door behind him and walking away, fists clenched in frustration.

_What a prick!_

For once, Anrak couldn't bring himself to correct Kagi.

* * *

**Day 15**

Anrak and Neliel were in the Division 13 headquarters wrapping up the last bit of paperwork for the day when Kurotsuchi came calling.

Anrak wasn't happy to see the pasty-faced Captain of Squad 12, as he found the man to be seriously creepy, but he couldn't just turn him away without a more concrete reason. Hopefully, whatever Kurotsuchi wanted wouldn't take long.

"How can we help you, Captain Kurotsuchi?" Anrak greeted from behind his desk, pushing his current paperwork to the side to pay attention to his guest.

"Oh, I have something here that I'd like your lieutenant to take a look at…" answered the other man, unfolding some sort of large red cloth.

"Of course!" said Nel cheerily. "I'd be happy to help-"

She cut herself off abruptly as Kurotsuchi finally got the cloth unfolded, revealing it to be a medium-sized flag of some sort: red, with a white circle in the middle that contained some sort of twisted and deranged cross-looking shape. Anrak didn't recognize it, but Nel had gone pale, her eyes wide in terror. Kurotsuchi took a step closer to her desk with the flag, and she leapt from her chair and backed up against the wall, a panicked expression on her face.

"_Nein_! Bitte, nein! Bleiben Sie weg!" she cried out, trembling as she began to inch her way along the wall towards her the safety of her own captain. Kurotsuchi only grinned sadistically and took another step closer.

"Fascinating!" he said, "Somewhere, deep down, you _remember_ this from your time as a human, don't you?"

By now Anrak had moved to intercept, leaving his own desk to stand in-between the other captain and the terrified Neliel.

"Leave." he growled threateningly, "_Now._"

Kurotsuchi ignored him and moved to go around, but Anrak stepped to block him again, angrily snatching the flag from his hands and letting his reiatsu flare up, focusing the bulk of it on the cursed object now tightly grasped in his fist. The flag began to smoke and burn as black flames began to greedily devour the red fabric, and Anrak tossed the burning banner into the metal wastebasket beside his desk.

"You can't-" Kurotsuchi began to protest, but Anrak grabbed the scabbard of his zanpaktou with his left hand, loosening Kagi from her scabbard with a flick of his thumb.

"You can leave on your own," Anrak warned, "or I can throw you out _piece. By. Piece_."

Kurotsuchi stood there for a second, fuming as he silently debated the issue. They were both captains, and he had more experience as such…but Ushii was one of Zaraki's thugs and once the ex-Espada behind him regained her senses…

"I'm bored of this nonsense, anyway!" snarled Kurotsuchi as he spun on his heel and marched out of the office in an angry huff.

Reeling in his reiatsu, Anrak replaced _Kage Shitsukoi _into her sheath, sealing the blade away once more. He turned to face Nel, and she flung herself at him, burying her face into his shoulder.

"I've never seen that thing before…" she said, sobbing. "But…I _know_ it somehow. I felt afraid, like it was going to take me away… It's evil, it's death…"

"It's okay, Neliel." Anrak assured her, hugging her tightly. "It's gone now, and you're safe here. I won't let anything take you away."

"Promise?" she sniffled.

"Hai, I promise." he said, staring at the wastebasket as the shadowy flames finally began to die down. Anrak made a mental note to ask Enjeru later if he knew anything about what the flag meant, since the other man enjoyed studying human history, and he would _definitely_ bring up Kurotsuchi's behavior at the next Captain's Meeting, warning the creepy bastard to stay the hell away from his Squad or else.

For now, he was content to hold Nel until she felt safe again, no matter how long it might take.

* * *

**Day 17**

It was late in the evening and nearly time to call it a day and go home. The last of the paperwork was finished and Anrak and Nel were in the office and passing the last twenty minutes of their shift talking to each other, leaning against his desk as they conversed.

"Listen, An, about the other day…" Nel began, cheeks turning a little red as she stepped a little closer to her captain.

"Don't worry about it. Best just to forget it." he said, waving it off with a smile.

"I know…but still, I want to thank you for standing up for me." she murmured, leaning in close and bumping her nose against his…

A knock at the door interrupted whatever would have come next, forcing Neliel to step back and look away in embarassment.

_**It never fails… **_thought Anrak ruefully.

_I know! Isn't it wonderful?_ cackled Kagi, sounding far too happy for his liking.

Ignoring her, Anrak called for whoever it was to enter, watching as the door slid open to reveal Rukia Kuchiki with Captain Kuchiki in tow.

"Captain Ushii?" the petite shinigami asked hesitantly, "My brother said that you needed to speak with me?"

Anrak cast a quick glance over at Neliel, noting that she seemed to be just as surprised as he was to see that Byakuya had apparently changed his mind.

"Of course… Please, come in and take a seat." said Anrak, offering both his guests a smile as he went back to sit down at his desk, with Nel pouring the guests a cup of tea which had unfortunately already gone cold more than an hour ago.

"As you I'm sure you know, Rukia, our Fifth-Seat is currently open…" Anrak stated, watching Rukia nod before continuing. "I'd like to offer _you_ the position, if you want it."

Rukia's eyes went wide, and a grin threatened to break out across her face before vanishing suddenly behind a mask of suspicion.

"Wait a minute… Is this why my brother told me you needed to see me?" she asked, turning to face Captain Kuchiki, "Did you _tell_ him to give me the position?"

"No no no…" Anrak assured her, drawing Rukia's attention back to him. "_I _sought out Captain Kuchiki to tell him about my decision. According to my records, you've been passed over for officer positions several times in the past and I thought he might like to know that you'd finally made it."

Rukia's grin returned and off to her side she failed to notice the oh-so-slight nod Byakuya gave, an indication that the other captain was grateful for Anrak _not_ revealing that he had been the reason for Rukia's past 'failures' to advance.

…well, as grateful as was possible for the mighty Byakuya Kuchiki.

"I thought it might be better for Captain Kuchiki to tell you that I needed to see you and that he should be here with you to share this moment." Anrak fibbed, earning him another faint nod from Byakuya.

Rukia was too overcome with emotion to even notice the looks passing between the two captains and their unspoken words; she'd _finally_ made officer after forty years! This was the greatest day of her (after)life!

"There is just one other thing, Rukia…" began Anrak, "and this is more of a _personal_ request than anything else."

"Of course, Captain! What do you need?"

"Kidō is supposed to be a part of the new training regimen we've implemented, but Lieutenant Neliel can't use kidō, and since I came from Squad 11, I'm not exactly well-versed in the art. You're far and away the best kidō practitioner we have in Squad 13, and probably one of the best in the entire Seireitei…" he said and Rukia blushed under the compliment.

"You're asking _me_ to teach the squad kidō?" she asked and Anrak nodded.

"If you would be so kind, Fifth-Seat Kuchiki." Anrak said pleasantly. "Again, this is not an order and is entirely optional; it's okay to say 'no' if you're not comfortable."

Oh, _wow_; as if getting a promotion wasn't enough, now she was being asked to help _instruct_ the squad? For forty years, she'd felt insignificant compared to her adopted brother, but today she was feeling important, maybe more important than she'd ever felt before!

She only hoped Byakuya was proud of her.

"I would be honored to help, Captain!" gushed Rukia, bowing. Anrak smiled and thanked her, allowing the excited shinigami to go tell her long-time friend Renji the good news.

As Rukia closed the door behind her and left, Anrak looked back at Captain Kuchiki who was rising from his seat as Neliel cleared her throat.

"And I have a favor to ask of you, Captain Kuchiki, if I may…" she said slowly as the captain prepared to leave.

"Speak." said Byakuya in his monotone voice, looking over at the Lieutenant.

"_Tell_ her you're proud."

Kuchiki said nothing as he excused himself, and while Anrak doubted the man would actually tell Rukia _anything_, he looked over at Nel and smiled warmly.

"And you saying _that_ to the great Byakuya Kuchiki makes _me_ proud."

* * *

**Day 24**

Neliel had left at noon for her first scheduled Lieutenant's Meeting and afterwards she had been slated to be inducted into the Shinigami Women's Association, and all of _that _translated to her being gone for most of the day and leaving Anrak to run things solo.

He'd spent all day running back and forth between the Sword Hall, the Dojo, the Kidō Range, and the Squad PT grounds trying to spend some time with each of the units working in each location, which was normally that was something he and Nel split straight down the middle; one would take the indoor activities, and one would watch over the groups outside.

The paperwork was something else they usually divided up, but with Nel gone, Anrak was forced to do it all, and it had _really_ piled up today; requests for time off, requests for specialty items from the human world, requests from other squads for this and that, and not to mention the weekly report Yamamoto expected on the status of the division…

Normally the shift ended at eight o'clock, but it was nearly eleven now and there was _still_ another couple of hours of paperwork left to sort through.

How the _hell_ did Zaraki manage this junk? Or Kyōraku? Was all this crap part of being the new guy, or were the ridiculous amounts of paperwork normal enough to be the reason Hitsugaya almost always seemed to be in a foul mood?

His eyes were tired from staring at so many forms, words, and letters, and he yawned involuntarily as he rubbed his poor eyes. All the words were beginning to jumble together on him and that was no good, no good at all; at this point, it would probably be best to push everything aside and rest his head just for a few minutes, close his strained eyes and enjoy the cool, soothing darkness…

Only for a few minutes, though.

* * *

Nel stood outside Anrak's quarters, knocking on the door frame, growing impatient with each passing minute. Seriously, how long did it take to answer the door? She just _had_ to tell him about her first meeting with the other lieutenants and with the S.W.A; she was excited, happy, and needed to share that with him, and he wouldn't answer the stupid door!

Then again, hadn't he told her once before that she was welcome over any time?

Taking him on his word, she slid the door open and invited herself in, only to find it devoid of her captain.

Frowning, she walked through the main room and poked her head inside his bedroom; intruding in there was rude beyond words, she knew that, but she at least wanted to make sure he was okay since he hadn't answered the door.

Unfortunately, he wasn't in there, either.

She stood in the doorway between the two rooms, scratching her head in confusion. He couldn't _possibly_ still be at the office, could he? After all, it was close to midnight, and he _should_ have left the office several hours ago.

Nel slipped out of his quarters and began making her way back to the division headquarters, even though she was pretty sure he wouldn't be there, either. If anything, he'd probably gone out drinking with Renji or something, or maybe he was passed out with Captain Kyōraku somewhere.

But then again, as she neared the HQ, she could see a faint light coming from inside the office…

Quietly, she slid open the door and peeked inside, and was surprised to see her captain asleep at his desk. She smiled to herself and tip-toed into the room, going over to his desk and looking down at him. On either side of his head were stacks of paperwork, one for finished forms and one for unfinished, and as she looked at the volume of it all, Nel understood why he had fallen asleep here.

She ran her fingers through his hair affectionately, being careful not to wake him. There had been an unusual amount of forms today and he'd tried to do them all, including Nel's own share rather than leaving them on her desk for tomorrow.

Carefully, she picked up the unfinished pile and took them back over to her desk, popping her neck as she sat down. Might as well finish up and let him sleep a while longer, and maybe in an hour or two they could both retire for the evening.

She glanced over at her sleeping captain one last time and smiled softly.

"Good night, An."

* * *

**Day 31**

It was, according to Neliel, "Judgment Day."

The thirty day period of automatic refusals was now over, and today people could begin requesting transfers out of Squad 13 and away from her.

Anrak had tried to convince her that the squad had accepted her as one of their own, he truly had, but she was still a nervous wreck. Her back-and-forth pacing was slowly wearing a trench into the polished wood floor, and given the bags under her eyes, it was doubtful she'd slept a wink last night.

All day long, she'd stuck close to Anrak and whenever a squad member had come to speak with him, she'd flinched and turned away, expecting the worst.

The day was almost over, though, and not a soul had asked about a transfer, and no one had even seemed unhappy. The first thirty days were done, and despite a few rough spots, everything had been going well this past month; the squad was now used to the training regimen, and no one complained of it being too hard anymore, and according to Kiyone and Sentarō, no one had anything bad to say about Nel.

They were quick to assure Anrak that the squad was pleased with him, too, but he was far more concerned with how everyone perceived Neliel; he could deal with a few people hating him, but if anyone was feeling discontent with Nel…well, that would break her heart.

…or whatever it was that passed for a hollow's heart, anyway.

She'd tried so hard to do the job well, tried so hard to fit in and be accepted, and to Anrak, she had done a phenomenal job. Hell, most of the other captains had praised her efforts, and Hitsugaya had even mentioned a couple of times that he wished his own lieutenant would work _half_ as much as Nel did.

But it wasn't their approval that she was seeking; it was the squad's, and she was worried that she had failed in their eyes.

They'd worked another couple of scams during the past month to make her out to be the hero again, though she didn't really need the help; Anrak had already found that when he went to a Captain's Meeting and left her to her own devices, Nel could be counted on to keep things running smoothly.

Another hour, that was all, and the shift would be over. He was pretty sure that she'd be just fine in the morning if she could make it through this last hour without having a panic attack.

And then there was a knock at the door, followed by a nervous female shinigami entering the office holding a form of some sort.

Anrak heard Nel's sharp intake of breath and knew she was already fearing the worst again.

The unranked squad member approached his desk and handed him the sheet of paper, fidgeting as she did so. Anrak sighed as he accepted the paper, feeling sorry for Nel. He'd truly thought that it would never come to this. He looked down at the paper and opened his mouth to ask if there was any thing he could do to change the girl's mind about leaving, but stopped himself when he noticed exactly what the form was.

"Let the lieutenant take care of this." said Anrak, struggling to remain impassive as he handed the paper back to the girl, who in turn handed it to a distraught Nel.

Hands shaking, Nel accepted the form and began to read it, and the fear on her face slowly gave way to confusion.

"I'm sorry…" said the shinigami nervously, "I _know_ I should have come and filed this earlier, but I was just so busy…"

"It's a request for time off?" asked Neliel in disbelief, "You mean you're not transferring out?"

"Why would I?" blinked the shinigami, "I _love_ it here and I don't think there's anyone in the barracks who'd rather be anywhere else."

All the worry evaporated from Nel's face as her usual bright smile returned, and she quickly began to scribble on the paper.

"It's kind of my birthday tomorrow, so I was hoping to have the day off to go to the Rukon and maybe do some shopping…" explained the shinigami.

"Approved!" exclaimed Nel cheerfully, adding the young woman's name to the squad calendar before hugging her happily.

"Um…thanks?" said the confused shinigami, wondering why her lieutenant seemed so happy and Anrak just laughed.

"Have a happy birthday, from both of us." he said, dismissing the soul reaper. Neliel looked positively relieved as her normally cheerful glow finally returned…though that quickly gave way to momentary confusion.

"An…what's a birthday?" she asked.

"You've _got_ to be joking…" said Anrak incredulously.

"No…" said Nel a bit meekly, obviously feeling a little embarrassed by not knowing.

_She was blonde when she was human, I just know it!_ laughed Kagi mockingly.

_**Hush, you.**_

"In the world of the living, humans celebrate the day of their birth annually…" explained Anrak, still not quite understanding how she couldn't know, "The tradition has carried over to the Soul Society, too, though for people who can't actually _remember_ their time as a human, like me, we use the day we appeared in the Soul Society in place of our actual birthday. If you can't remember _that_ day, then you just pick a day to call your own."

"I don't remember when I was human…" murmured Nel, "and there was no concept of time in Hueco Mundo before Aizen came. He taught us about that, but he never mentioned birthdays… I don't know when I was born _or_ when I died."

Well, that explained a lot. Just one more thing to blame on Aizen, Anrak supposed.

"Kurotsuchi managed to track down a record of your birth some time ago…" Anrak told her, "I'll drop by later and find out when your birthday is and then we're going to make arrangements for you; _everyone _should have a birthday to enjoy."

She thanked him earnestly and tried to discourage him from dealing with Captain Kurotsuchi on her behalf, but Anrak had already made up his mind; Neliel was going to have a birthday, even if he had to crawl through fire and broken glass to make it happen for her.

It would be a day to let her know just how much her friends truly appreciated her, a day to show her just how important she really was to everyone…

…and perhaps even a day to finally confess that he loved her.


	30. Birthday and a Chocolate Kiss

**Neliel's Birthday and the Chocolate Kiss**

"_Why do we celebrate? Hey, just because we're dead doesn't mean we have to stop living."_

Birthdays, he reflected, were generally considered to be special days in the hearts and minds of friends and family, a day to celebrate the existence of someone near and dear. They were usually interesting days, filled with gifts and unique food, and they were also annoying _because_ of the gifts and food. He didn't like cake, and enjoyed gift-shopping even less.

Somehow over the years, the celebration of birthdays had come to include gifts, and despite how silly he found the tradition to be, it was something people expected, and it would look bad if he didn't do _something_ for her.

Personally, he'd be happy with a good bottle of sake and a day off from his duties, but Nel would require something different, something that was, in this case, priceless.

He'd heard it said that the best gifts didn't come from stores, and that rather, they were thoughtful presents or favors from the heart, and for the man on a budget, especially a budget of _zero_ money, that was perfect. Free was good, free was great, and in this case, free was the perfect present.

He scratched his chin thoughtfully as he looked at the choices on the shelf before him: the six-inch was wider, but the four-inch was thicker, and the two-inch longer. Which would be best for his purposes?

"Decisions, decisions…" he mumbled to himself, picking up one of the four-inch rolls and looking it over thoughtfully. Word had spread around the Seireitei to all of Nel's friends about her birthday several weeks ago, and like a fool, he had put off this little 'shopping' excursion to the very last minute; her birthday was today, and he had yet to make up his mind on which was best.

He _hated_ feeling rushed, and that was exactly how he felt at the moment, but he had to admit that there was no one to blame other than himself.

"No, that's not true…" he grumbled under his breath, "I blame Satsu. And Renji."

_That_ made him feel better, even if it wasn't entirely accurate.

Hey, here were some rolls of one-inch in the back that were pretty thick and very long…maybe these would be perfect.

"Hey! What are you doing there? That's for authorized personnel _only_!" called a voice at the end of the hall.

Takk looked up from the Squad 4 supply closet towards the medic who'd just spotted him, and cursed his luck. With the shouting alerting the rest of Squad 4 to his actions, he no longer had the time to be picky, and so he shoved _all_ the rolls into his loot sack, tied it shut, and slung it over his shoulder as he bolted for the infirmary's exit with a half-dozen shinigami hot on his heels.

He hoped no one would recognize his face and report him to Captain Abarai, but it didn't matter even if they did; this was a necessary evil, both for Neliel _and_ Anrak.

After all, nothing said "Happy Birthday" like a little larceny.

* * *

Anrak had given Nel the day off for her birthday, once again leaving him to run the division solo…mostly. Rukia should still be leading the Kidō practice, and Anrak knew she didn't require any supervision. Kiyone and Sentarō would have been more than willing to help with some of the other duties, but he'd given them a special assignment for the day to keep them out of his hair.

Of course, it wasn't _just_ to keep them out of his hair; it was related to Nel's birthday, and it was a far more important assignment than anything else he could have handed them.

Fortunately, Anrak had managed to settle into his role as captain over the past several weeks, and trying to manage everything by himself wasn't as much as a hassle anymore. The units carried out their practice sessions and chores with minimal supervision, and as much as he'd have liked to spend time instructing them personally, it gave him more time to complete the day's paperwork.

That, too, had become easier; the past few weeks had taught him that there were some forms that simply _existed_, serving no actual purpose whatsoever. Rather than fill them out, he had learned to start trashing them. It was how Shunsui kept up with it all, and how Yoruichi had done it during her time as captain. Hitsugaya, he found out, was so anal that he _insisted_ on doing all the paperwork, regardless of how useless and disposable it might be.

And Zaraki, unsurprisingly, had admitted to either trashing pretty much _everything_ or giving it to Yachiru to play with.

No wonder old man Yama had said that he didn't appreciate weekly reports consisting of nothing more than pretty pictures of pink horses…

Anrak glanced at the battery-operated clock on the far wall as he dipped his fine brush into the inkwell stationed on the corner of his desk, noting that he had another hour and a half to go before he was finished for the day.

He'd already made plans to leave the office a little early today, having instructed Nel to meet him at the Senkaimon around five-thirty so that they could go to the human world for her birthday dinner, and that had made Neliel giddy. Going to the world of the living was _still_ a joy to her, still a treat, and Anrak fully intended on taking her to a nice restaurant so that they could talk over an extravagant dinner.

_You're really going through with this, with telling her?_

_**Yes.**_

He could feel Kagi sigh in annoyance, and he knew she wasn't happy; the dark spirit _still_ didn't like Neliel, and no amount of begging, pleading, or reasoning would change Kagi's mind.

_She's too weak for you._

_**Actually, she's stronger than me.**_

_I'm not talking about that, baka. I mean she's too pacifistic-_

_**I have you around to balance it out, don't I?**_

There was silence then, and Anrak wasn't sure if that meant Kagi was too angry to reply, or if she was chewing over his words. He preferred to think that she was considering his logic as a fair trade-off, but all the same, Anrak prepared himself for yet-another angry anti-Nel tirade as he continued writing his report.

_**Only another hour to go… **_

* * *

Nel hadn't known what to expect when Rangiku had ambushed her with a blindfold, but had nonetheless allowed the strawberry-blonde to drag her through the Seireitei to…well, she wasn't quire sure _where_ she was right now, but she hadn't put up a struggle. After all, Rangiku was her friend, and she trusted her, despite how odd she found all this to be.

She could sense that they were outside a building, and she could feel the reiatsu of several people gathered inside, but none of that told Nel exactly what was going on. Was this some sort of strange Soul Reaper custom? Maybe yet-_another_ stage of initiation into the Shinigami Women's Association, maybe? Perhaps just some silly prank?

She allowed Rangiku to lead her into the building, and then felt her friend untying her blindfold, and-

"Surprise!" rang out a chorus of voices, and Nel grinned ear to ear at the sight of so many of her friends: Renji, Rukia, Rangiku, Ichigo, and even Captains Hitsugaya and Kyōraku. She didn't even notice that everyone had brought an item or two with them for whatever reason, and when she opened her mouth to greet them all in return, she was promptly cut off by the entire group (sans Hitsugaya) _singing_ to her.

Nel blushed a deep crimson hue from all the attention and grinned nervously, feeling a tad awkward being in the proverbial spotlight. Was this what it meant to have a birthday? She wanted to ask, but Rangiku had shoved a wrapped box into her hands before she could utter a single syllable.

"Open it!" urged Rangiku impatiently as Nel stared at the bright yellow-and-blue package and it's shiny red bow. Carefully, she began to pry it open, tugging at the tape gently so as to not rip the paper, and she heard Rangiku sigh.

"Not like _that_; just rip it open!" exclaimed the soul reaper impatiently. Nel shrugged and began to tear into the gift, ripping the pretty paper off and tossing it aside like trash before reaching the box itself, which she opened carefully.

Inside was a long green silk cloth, similar to Rangiku's own pink scarf that she wore around her shoulders, and Nel exhaled slowly as she lifted it from the box.

"It's beautiful…" she whispered, and Rangiku beamed at her.

"It's yours, silly! Happy birthday!"

Nel excitedly wrapped the green scarf over her shoulders and hugged Rangiku tightly, thanking her profusely, and that was when she finally noticed that everyone else in the room had a gift as well, and her eyes went wide.

"This is all for _me_?" she asked breathlessly, looking around at all the faces as they nodded. Never before had Nel had a birthday, or had so many friends who cared about her, and never had she felt so humbled.

Birthdays, she concluded, were the greatest invention _ever_.

* * *

Anrak stood and yawned, stretching his arms over his head as he looked down at the finished stack of papers on his desk; various requests for this and that, both from within the squad and from without, were completed, as well as the weekly report.

And he still had more than twenty minutes to spare.

He handed the forms destined for other divisions and the weekly report to his Fourth-Seat, with instructions to deliver them to their intended recipients, and then headed for his quarters for a quick shower before meeting up with Neliel.

He was thankful that Captain's Quarters all had their own bathrooms, even if they were a tad small and cramped; it was a welcome change from the barrack showers, and a recent addition to each division. There was even a talk of expanding the electrical grid throughout the Seireitei and moving to light bulbs instead of torches and candles, which would be another welcome change.

_Speaking of change, have you changed your mind yet?_

_**Are you ever going to stop hating her?**_

_I don't _hate_ her…I just want to _kill _her._

_**Kagi…**_

_It's not too late to start trying to court Soifon! I don't think she hates you _that_ much yet… You even admitted that she was cute once!_

_**Yeah, I told Enjeru that she'd be cute if she could stop being so angry all the time, but that was a long time ago, before Nel. Let's also not forget that Soifon overheard that little conversation and put me in the infirmary for my 'insolent mouth.'**_

_I think she was actually pretty flattered, or else she'd have probably killed you… Maybe if you speak to her directly-_

_**She's not Neliel.**_

_That's my point!_

_**Kagi, no; I've made up my mind, and like it or not, you're going to have to accept it.**_

Kagi's response was an angry silence, and Anrak shook his head, sighing as he turned on the hot water and began to disrobe.

_I don't like it_…she began finally,_ but I'll accept it so long as you're happy… But mark my words, if that stupid girl makes one wrong move, I will-_

_**I get it, I get it… Thanks for understanding, Ka-**_

_And for the record, you're _still_ an idiot!_

* * *

"You _idiot_, you're doing it all wrong!"

"No, _you're_ doing it wrong!"

Kiyone and Sentarō stood at opposite ends of the counter, glaring daggers at one another as they each beat a bowl full of eggs furiously.

"Do you even know how to _read_ the recipe right?" asked an irritated Kiyone, "Because you're using way too many eggs!"

"I know _exactly_ what I'm doing! You're the one that's making a mess with all that flour!"

Their job for today, as given to them by their captain, was the most important job they'd had since he came to Division 13; making a cake for Lieutenant Neliel's birthday. They were equally-determined to do the job and do it well, but in truth, neither one of them knew a damn thing about baking, and the state of the division's mess hall was a testament to that fact: broken eggs everywhere, spilt flour covering the counters, puddles of milk on the floor, and sugar as far as the eye could see.

The duo growled at each other as they beat their respective eggs into oblivion and ended up sloshing the contents of the bowls out onto the floor.

"Look what you made me do!" bellowed Sentarō.

"No, look at what _you_ made _me_ do!" snapped Kiyone, pointing to her own mess.

Tension filled the air as they faced each other down in the kitchen-turned-war zone, with Kiyone wielding a large wooden spoon menacingly and Sentarō clutching his eggbeater as if it were a zanpaktou. They inched towards one another, each waiting for the other to make the first move. One misstep, one false move, one show of weakness, and it would be the end of all civilization as they knew it. Kiyone tensed and prepared to lunge, ready to beat some sense into her larger companion when she stopped suddenly, a thoughtful look on her face.

"Wait a minute… My sister said Hanatarō told her he had to learn how to bake a cake in the human world once to help a lost soul find peace… Maybe we can get him to help us!"

"Brilliant!" exclaimed Sentarō. "We can't afford to let the Captain down!"

"Exactly! I'll go find Hanatarō, and you find Yumichika; according to Isane, he was there, too, and two bakers will be better than one!"

The epic mess around them indicated otherwise, but who was it to say anything?

* * *

Neliel was overwhelmed with all the gifts around her: soft, white pajamas with Chappy imprints on them from Rukia, a jug of expensive-looking sake from Captain Kyōraku, a much less-expensive jug from a very red-faced Renji, and of course, the beautiful green scarf from Rangiku.

"I think we've saved the best for last…" announced Ichigo, handing Nel one final carefully-wrapped gift. "It's from Tōshirō and me."

"That's _Captain _Hitsugaya to you!" snapped the tiny ice captain, clearly annoyed by the teen's lack of protocol. Ichigo just waved him off as Nel began to unwrap it.

"I remembered Rangiku saying that Tōshirō was a good artist, so I went to him a couple of weeks ago and we started on this…" he explained as Neliel finally got the paper off, revealing the gift to be a beautifully-framed full-color sketch of her 'family.'

"Pesche…Dondochakka…Bawabawa…" she breathed as she touched the glass covering the picture gently.

It was her two 'brothers' and their 'pet', along with Neliel, in her child-form, standing together in Hueco Mundo doing their "super sentai" action poses. Everything was spot on, and it brought memories flooding back to her, along with a few tears as she thought about her lost fracción and Bawabawa.

"I described them to Tōshirō, since he never met them… We spent almost two weeks just getting the rough sketch right." said Ichigo while Captain Hitsugaya pretended (rather poorly) to be completely disinterested in Nel's reaction.

"It's beautiful…" Neliel said when she finally found her voice again, "Perfect… They look just like I remember them."

Ichigo grinned broadly and the faintest ghost of a smile touched upon Hitsugaya's lips…and Nel suddenly grabbed both of them in a monstrous hug.

"Thank you both so much!" she gushed, squeezing them tightly. Ichigo turned blue and started gasping for air, and meanwhile Hitsugaya looked like he was used to this sort of treatment…which, given who his lieutenant was, wasn't much of a surprise to anyone.

"Ah, Nel?" asked Rangiku, "It's five-thirty… Weren't you supposed to go meet Annie?"

Neliel yelped and released her two friends, with Ichigo falling to the floor and panting heavily while Hitsugaya merely adjusted his haori coolly.

"I almost forgot!" Nel panicked, looking around at the mess in the room. "What about-"

"Don't worry about it!" smiled Rangiku, draping an arm over her shoulders, "We'll clean up here."

"By 'we,' she actually means _us_…" growled Hitsugaya under his breath, but neither Nel or Rangiku heard him.

"And I'll drop your presents off in your quarters for you." offered Rukia helpfully, and Nel hugged her and Rangiku both, this time being careful _not_ to squeeze the life out of them.

"Go on, don't keep him waiting!" said Rangiku, shooing her friend towards the door, and Nel nodded as she took off heading for the Senkaimon.

* * *

"Is that dreadful mess cleaned up yet? You can't expect someone like _me_ to work in such an ugly environment!"

"O-oh yes, we're finished." stuttered Hanatarō slightly, leaning heavily on his mop as Kiyone and Sentarō finally finished scrubbing down the countertops. Yumichika entered the kitchen dressed not in his black shihakushō, but rather some strange white garb with a funny-looking hat perched on the top of his head, and surveyed his work area.

"I suppose this will do…" he sighed as if there were still some level of "ugliness" about the room. Truthfully, the Division 13 mess hall and kitchen had never been cleaner, but then, Yumichika was always something of a perfectionist.

Hanatarō hurried to put his mop away and wash his hands before tying an apron around his waist and joining Yumichika at the counter, and the two of them began to work on the cake, measuring ingredients and portions as if they had been professionally trained. Kiyone and Sentarō stood at the far end of the counter, watching and learning fro the two expert bakers.

"Can we do anything to help?" asked Kiyone, reaching across the counter to grab the cake pan, but Yumichika rapped her hand sharply with a wooden spoon.

"You can help by staying out of my way! If you want this cake to be as beautiful as I am, you'll stop distracting me!"

Kiyone rubbed her still-smarting hand with an irritated look on her face, but she stepped away from the counter, and along with Sentarō, silently watched the masters work.

* * *

Yoruichi may have hated clothing herself, but that didn't mean she was inept at choosing clothes; Anrak and Nel had arrived in the world of the living to find their gigais waiting on them, both sharply dressed for a night on the town.

"Dressed to kill," as Kisuke had put it.

Wearing a gigai was irritating enough by itself, but wearing a gigai that was dressed more or less like a penguin was hell, and Anrak tugged at his collar, feeling as if the tie was choking him; how the hell did some humans endure this every day? It was absolute madness!

Nel at least appeared more comfortable in her gigai and it's elegant black strapless evening gown, though she did stumble some in the high-heeled shoes Yoruichi had picked out for her.

Unfortunately, no matter how nice their clothes were, each restaurant ended up turning them away for not having "reservations."

They had been wandering all over Karakura Town for nearly three hours now, and every decent restaurant in town had turned them away. True, the first one had offered to work them in if Anrak had been willing to wait two and a half hours, but he had refused on the assumption that there had to be _somewhere_ nice to eat that wouldn't make them wait. If only he'd known at the time how wrong he was, they'd be sitting down enjoying a meal by now…

They stood outside the last "classy" restaurant in Karakura, looking at one another. If they were turned away again, Anrak would have no choice but to downgrade to a less-expensive place, maybe a sushi joint. Grasping Neliel's hand, he led her in the front door and asked the man up from for a table for two.

"Reservations?" he asked, and Anrak felt his eye twitch.

"No." he said, almost growling the word.

"I am sorry, Sir, but without reservations, it will not be possible to serve you tonight…" said the man, glancing down at his schedule book. "If you would like, I can make room for the two of you next Tuesday…"

"No, thank you." said Anrak as politely as he could, retreating out the door with Neliel.

If only he'd known about the importantance of reserving a table! He mentally cursed his own stupidity repeatedly, feeling like a fool. He'd promised Neliel a nice dinner, and now…

"It's okay, An." she said squeezing his hand gently and smiling, "_Where_ we eat isn't important; the only thing that matters is that we're together."

Anrak blushed and looked at her, wondering if she knew, or at least suspected, what he had to tell her. It was certainly possible; despite being a little ditzy at times, Nel was surprisingly intelligent and perceptive, more so than most other people he'd ever known. Perhaps, then, the night wasn't a total waste of time, perhaps they could still salvage something…

"The spirits are _always_ with you!" crowed a loud voice from the parking lot beside the restaurant, and Anrak froze in place. Oh no, not him, not here, not _now_!

Against his better judgment, he turned to look, and sure enough, there was Don Kanonji in the parking lot, as gaudily-dressed as ever, standing beside the pink monstrosity he called a car and surrounded by fans reaching for him and asking for autographs.

Maybe it wasn't too late to escape, maybe Kanonji hadn't seen them-

"Anrak! Is that you?" called Kanonji, and Anrak suppressed a groan as the other man began to wade through the sea of admirers. "Why, it _is_ you! I haven't see you in months!"

"Been kinda busy…" said Anrak, forcing a smile and hoping Kanonji would turn his attention back to the small crowd.

"Hey…you're not a spirit anymore… What-"

"Long story." said Anrak, cutting the other man off quickly as people began to look at him and Nel with questions in their eyes.

"Ah, well then, what brings my apprentice here?" asked Kanonji, thankfully shooing his followers away.

"It's her birthday." said Anrak as he gestured towards Neliel, thankful that the crowd was dispersing. "We were _going_ to have dinner here, but they turned us away for not having reservations."

"Well, that's no good! You two come with me and we'll get this all straightened out, don't you worry none!" said the spiritualist, motioning for the two to follow him into the restaurant.

"Don Kanonji, party of three!" he announced to the clerk up front, and the other man looked very confused.

"Mister Kanonji, Sir, we have your reservation listed as party of one…"

"What?" asked Kanonji, feigning surprise quite poorly, "I was very clear when I called last week; _one_ master spiritualist and _two_ apprentices!" he explained, holding up his left index finger and two fingers from his right hand. "One plus two equals three! Are you telling me that you don't want my business? I can take my two apprentices and go-"

"Nonono, that won't be necessary, Sir! Clearly, there was a misunderstanding on our part; of _course_ we have a table for you and your guests! Right this way, please!"

Kanonji looked back at Anrak and Nel and grinned widely at them, and Anrak could only shake his head in amazement and laugh at the absurdity of it all; after all, who would have ever guessed that Don Kanonji would be the one to save the day?

* * *

With the mess from the party finally cleaned up, Rukia looked at the small pile of Neliel's presents that she had volunteered to carry to the lieutenant's quarters and realized that there was too much for her to carry by herself. An easily-solvable problem, as she simply reached up and grabbed Ichigo's left ear and dragged him over to the pile of gifts, pointing at them.

To his credit, the teen knew better than to argue with his girlfriend, having found out the consequences of doing so many, many times over the past few weeks. With only a few complaints about a certain "spoiled midget" grumbled under his breath, he picked up the two sake jugs and the folded pajamas while Rukia gathered up the framed picture and a couple of small knick-knacks.

The walk to Division 13 was filled with Rukia commenting on Neliel's party and how she couldn't wait for her own birthday to roll around… Ichigo just rolled his eyes and remained silent; seriously, what was it with girls and frivolous parties? If it wasn't for the fact it would earn him a jump-kick to the jaw, he would have asked the raven-haired shinigami walking with him, but Ichigo figured that the answer wouldn't be worth the pain.

Rukia opened the door to Neliel's quarters and Ichigo followed her inside, a little surprised by just how small a lieutenant's quarters actually were. It wasn't much bigger than a standard officer's quarters, which was what he had been given to stay in during his time in the Seireitei. Off at the very back of the room was a simple sleeping mat, not even a real bed, and aside from a couple of shelves filled with books and a small dresser, the room was largely empty.

Ichigo sat the sake jugs on the ground against the wall as Rukia gently laid the framed picture and other small gifts on Nel's sleeping mat, with something else catching her eye as she stood up. Her taller companion walked past her to deposit the pajamas on the sleeping mat as Rukia stared at the strange glass enclosure with an open top sitting on Nel's dresser, filled with almost-white sand from her native Hueco Mundo.

"Ichigo, is it just me, or does it seem like something's missing?" she asked, and Ichigo scowled at her nosiness.

"Don't you think it's a little inappropriate to be snooping around your lieutenant's quarters?"

"I'm not snooping; it's right here in the open!" protested Rukia, "And I really think something's missing… You don't think someone _robbed_ her, do you?"

Ichigo opened his mouth to try and reason with her once more, but stopped himself when he noticed Nel's pillow was actually _moving_, almost as if something were inside the pillowcase.

"What the hell…?" he muttered as he slipped his hand inside the case slowly.

*CHOMP!*

* * *

Dinner was surprisingly peaceful and pleasant, which came as a shock to Anrak. The great Don Kanonji, it seemed, could calm down and act like an _almost_ normal person when the situation demanded it, and Anrak actually enjoyed conversing with his strange friend. The conversation had covered everything from the events in Soul Soceity, to how Anrak and Nel were currently posing as corporeal beings, and to the topic of exactly who and _what_ Neliel was.

Kanonji had looked a little unsettled at first to find out the friendly and cheerful woman at the table was, in fact, a more-evolved version of the "bad spirits" he was constantly after, but he had handled it well, and had even begun to refer to her as his newest "apprentice." In fact, the only bad thing about the entire dinner had been Anrak's complete and utter embarassment as Kanonji told Nel the grand story of how they met and their adventures together.

That, and Nel was now imitating Kanonji's infamous crossed-arms laugh.

It wasn't the romantic dinner for two he'd wanted, but Nel seemed to be happy, and even Anrak could admit that he was enjoying himself despite Kanonji's story and irritating laugh. The trio had even sat there and continued talking for nearly an hour after finishing their dinner, laughing and sounding very much like three people who'd all known each other for many years.

There was a slight argument over payment at the end of the meal; Kanonji actually insisted on covering them as payment for nearly getting Anrak killed, but the shinigami wouldn't have it. The compromise they reached was that Anrak would pay for his dinner and Neliel's, and Kanonji would owe him another small favor to be called in at a later date.

With dinner paid for, the trio made their way out of the restaurant and to the now-empty parking lot, and as Anrak glanced up at the moon, he realized that it was time to go.

"Kanonji…I mean, Don," he corrected himself, "that favor…I kind of need to call it in now, if you don't mind."

"Of course not! The great Don Kanonji is a man of his word, after all!" declared the spiritualist proudly, and Anrak smiled at the man appreciatively.

"We need to be getting back so Soul Society now, and we need to have our faux bodies dropped off to Kisuke's."

"That shop you wanted to go to when you got hurt? The one with the angry woman?" asked Kanonji, a cold sweat breaking out across his forehead at the thought of Yoruichi.

"That would be my sister, Yoruichi." nodded Anrak, "But her 'meow' is worse than her bite; she was just upset last time because of my condition. The shop owner, Kisuke, cares for most of our gigais while we're on the other side, and Nel and I _really_ need to be getting back soon, so..."

"I'll do it!" cried Kanonji overdramatically, striking a pose with his fist raised high in the air as if he were making some sort of life-or-death pledge, "I will deliver your bodies to your sister so that you can cross over in peace!"

Anrak and Nel just glanced at each other with confused looks on their faces, wondering if the slightly-crazed man had already forgotten that technically, they were already dead and not currently dying.

Shrugging, they decided against asking him, and instead popped their Soul Candy, allowing their spirit forms to get free of the faux bodies while implanting a temporary artificial soul in their place.

"Oh, that feels _so_ much better!" exclaimed Anrak, stretching and rolling his shoulders as his gigai began to sob uncontrollably.

"Oh god, you're leaving us, aren't you? I _hate_ goodbyes!" it whined.

Nel's gigai, meanwhile, was eyeing the dance club across the street a little too closely.

"Hey!" Anrak called, snapping his fingers in front of her face to get her attention, "Don't even _think_ about it. You two are to go with Don Kanonji here and return to Urahara's Shop, got it?"

The green-haired gigai grumbled an assent, and Anrak's own gigai began to cry harder.

"You don't have to be so _mean_ about it!" it bawled, "We have feelings, too, you know!"

"So you really _do_ have a sensitive side!" said Neliel teasingly, grinning at her captain.

Anrak stuck his tongue out at her playfully, a juvenile gesture to be sure, but he reserved such antics for her and her alone. He turned away and pulled his zanpaktou, calling _Kage Shitsukoi_ into her shikai form and thrusting her into the empty air, the blade vanishing into thin air, seemingly becoming one with the night.

Slowly, a keyhole formed around the base of the blade, followed by a large wooden gate materializing. Anrak turned the handle of his zanpaktou, using the sword as a key to unlock the entrance back into the Soul Society. He withdrew the blade and returned it to it's sealed state before re-sheathing it as the ghostly door finally opened, a brilliant golden light spilling out of it to illuminate the deserted parking lot.

"Amazing…" breathed Kanonji, nearly speechless.

"Thanks for getting us into the restaurant, Mister Kanonji!" said Nel, bowing to him as she moved to stand beside her captain at the doorway. "It was a pleasure to meet you, and I hope we can all get together again soon!"

Kanonji was too entranced by the beautiful light to speak, and so he only nodded as Nel and Anrak both disappeared through the Senkaimon. The gate closed behind them, cutting off the heavenly light and breaking the virtual spell it had held over the spiritualist.

Shaking his head to clear the last remnants of the gateway to the afterlife, Kanonji stood up and turned to face the two artificial soul-infused faux bodies.

"All right, then! Let's get you two… Hey, wait; where'd the other one go?" he asked, looking around and scratching his head. The lone remaining gigai glanced around and began to wail again.

"Why does everyone keep _abandoning_ me?"

* * *

"Careful, _careful_! That is a _masterpiece_ you're handling, and if you drop it, I shall kill you both!" hissed Yumichika as Kiyone and Sentarō pushed the cart bearing the finished cake to their captain's quarters, as per the orders he'd left them. Hanatarō had been sent to keep an eye on the Senkaimon for their return, which should be any minute now.

The cake was beautiful, of that there was no doubt; however they had learned to bake, there was little doubt that Yumichika and Hanatarō were masters of their craft. The lieutenant was sure to love the chocolate frosting and green accents, and if _she_ loved it, _that_ would please the Captain, and it was a win/win situation for everyone.

…and then Hanatarō came running up to them, stuttering in a panic that Captain Ushii had returned.

Caution thrown to the wind, all four shinigami grabbed the pushcart the cake was sitting on and began to run like hell to beat the captain back to his quarters. The fragile cake bounced and swayed as the group raced through the streets to their destination, but managed to stay intact, a testament, perhaps, to the skill of it's creators.

Hanatarō slid the door open for the other three, stepping aside as they rushed in and deposited the cart in the middle of the large "living room" portion of the apartment.

"All right, let's go before the Captain arrives!" ordered Sentarō, but Yumichika had pulled out a tiny knife and was fixing an impossibly tiny "imperfection" in the frosting where there was a mound of fudge one-twentieth of an inch too high compared to the surrounding area.

"We don't have time for this!" urged Kiyone.

"Don't rush me!" snapped the narcissistic man from Squad 11, "Beauty takes time!"

"We don't _have_ any more time!" declared Sentarō, grabbing the man and hauling him from the room forcefully, with Kiyone following them out the door. Hanatarō slid the wooden door shut behind them all, and he was the only one to notice a note taped to the door, addressed to the two Third-Seats of Squad 13. He snatched the note off the door and ran off in pursuit of his three accomplices, rounding the far corner of the building just as Anrak and Nel came around the other corner.

* * *

"An, thank you for dinner." smiled Neliel as they paused outside of Anrak's quarters, "It was wonderful, and Mister Kanonji seems like a really nice guy, even if he is a little strange."

"A little?" asked Anrak, arching an eyebrow at her, and Neliel only giggled. "Anyway, Nel, I have something else for you…" he said, opening the door and hoping that Kiyone and Sentarō hadn't let him down.

To his relief, there was a cart from the mess hall standing in the middle of the room, and on top of it stood a beautiful chocolate cake, more perfect than he'd dared hope for. He glanced over at Neliel in time to see her eyes widen at the delicious dessert before her.

"That's for _me_?" she asked, clearly not believing it. Anrak nodded and stepped inside his quarters, motioning for her to follow. She grasped his hand once more and squeezed tightly as she entered, closing the door behind them and following her friend over to the cake in the center of the room.

Anrak prepared a pot of hot tea for them while Neliel cut a couple of slices of cake for her captain and for herself, and as they sat down together to eat, Anrak marveled at the taste. Kiyone and Sentarō had _definitely_ went above and beyond the call of duty on this one…maybe they deserved a raise or reward. For several minutes, the only thing either one of them could talk about was the cake.

Of course, the cake wasn't the most important thing here.

"Neliel, I've been meaning to talk to you…" he began slowly, hesitantly, "…about some things…about-"

His train of thought came to a screeching halt as a pair of lips smashed themselves against his own greedily, hungrily devouring the words he'd planned on saying.

Everything he'd intended on saying ceased to matter, nothing mattered anymore except Neliel and the sweet, chocolate-flavored kiss. He sat his own plate down and embraced her, pulling her closer, each lost in the other's arms.

After several long, amazingly-perfect seconds, Neliel broke away finally and blushed deeply.

"I'm sorry… I just thought I should seize the moment this time before someone interrupts us again." she said sheepishly, and Anrak laughed as he hugged her tightly.

"Not tonight, _koibito_." he said, smiling at her as he stroked her cheek affectionately, "I've made arrangements to keep the usual suspects busy."

"An, I love you…" she whispered to him softly and slowly, drawing her face closer to his again.

"I love you, too." he confessed finally, feeling a great weight disappear from his heart despite Kagi's angry growling inside his head.

Anrak tuned his zanpaktou out as he allowed himself to become lost in Nel's embrace once more, savoring her lips and wondering exactly why the hell he'd ever waited so long in the first place.

The cake sat where it was, and despite being the most delicious piece of confectionary ever created in the history of man, found itself quickly forgotten as the candles all winked out, leaving it to sit alone in darkness.

* * *

Satsu groaned as he opened his eyes, his head feeling as if Captain Zaraki had been using it for a punching bag. He strained to remember what he'd been doing when he blacked out…he'd been in the barracks talking to his brother, there was something about a birthday, and as headed for the door, something must have fallen from the ceiling and hit him in the back of the head…

Birthday, birthday…what was it about a birthday?

"Nel's birthday!" he cried out, finally remembering. He tried to move to go see her and Anrak, but found himself unable to do anything.

"Awake already?" sighed a voice coming around beside him, and Satsu noticed his brother, Takk, holding a roll of bandages. Satsu was confused for a moment until he looked down and notice that from the shoulders down, he was covered in bandages, almost like a mummy. He glanced upwards and saw the faint light of the moon filtering down through the branches of a tree, a tree that he was apparently tied to.

"Takk, what are you _doing_? We're going to miss Nel's birthday!"

His elder brother ignored him, and continued to wrap the bandages around him.

"You know," Takk began, almost conversationally, "when I heard Nel was having a birthday, I was a little stumped on what to do for it. I mean, what sort of worthwhile present could _I_ possibly give her? And then it hit me, just like the sheath of my zanpaktou hit you earlier, the _perfect_ present; a day free of your interruptions! It's cheap, it's practical, and I'm pretty damn sure both her _and_ Anrak will appreciate it…especially since he dropped the hint about it earlier this week."

"What are you saying?" asked Satsu, confused, "They'll be disappointed if we don't come by to see them!"

"Open wide and say 'Ah,' please…" Takk instructed. Satsu opened his mouth to ask why, and his brother shoved a stinky, rolled-up sock into his mouth, wrapping the hapless shinigami's face with more bandages to complete the gag. After several more minutes, Satsu looked essentially like a mummy, with only his eyes, nose and hair not covered by bandages. Takk smiled at his handiwork, and patted his younger brother on the head.

"Try and stay out of trouble, and I'll be back in the morning to cut you loose…maybe." he said, walking off and heading towards the Squad 5 barracks they called home.

* * *

It had been a painfully long day and he'd nearly missed Nel's birthday, but it wasn't quite midnight yet and Enjeru Masamune was going to make it just in time. He shifted the carefully-wrapped package to his other arm as he walked, his new girlfriend Kisutera following along beside him with a small gift of her own. Yep, he was pretty sure that Nel and Anrak were thinking they had forgotten about the birthday, and Enjeru couldn't want to show them just how wrong they were.

He approached the entrance to Division 13 and found Kiyone Kotetsu and Sentarō Kotsubaki, the dual Third-Seats of Squad 13 standing at either side of the entrance, each one wielding a six foot wooden staff. The two officers crossed their staves when they saw Enjeru and yelled out in one united voice "You shall not pass!"

Enjeru and Kisutera looked at each other and chuckled, and Enjeru moved to brush the staves aside and enter anyway.

"Hey! We said you can't come in! Are you stupid or something?" barked Sentarō threateningly.

"Oh, knock it off, guys; I'm here to see Anrak and Nel-"

"And the Captain left explicit orders that they are _not_ to be disturbed tonight!" declared Kiyone, "So come back in the morning if you want to talk to them!"

Enjeru rolled his eyes and went to move past them again, and was rewarded with a swift bop on the head, courtesy of Sentarō's staff.

"Hey!" he cried out, and Kiyone smacked him in the shins roughly with her staff, forcing him to jump backwards and rub his bruised leg, wishing all the while he'd worn his greaves for this.

"You shall not pass!" the duo announced once more, moving to block the entrance bodily. Enjeru opened his mouth to try and _order_ them to stand aside, but Kisutera grabbed his ear and hauled him down to whisper in it fiercely.

Kiyone and Sentarō couldn't hear what she was telling the man, but given how red Enjeru's face was turning, it had to be something best left unrepeated.

"Oh…" he said finally, his cheeks still a bright red "I see… I'll come back in the morning then."

With that, he allowed Kisutera to lead him away, going back to whence they came. Kiyone and Sentarō just looked at each other and shrugged.

"The Captain will be pleased that I ran them off." said Sentarō finally, puffing out his chest with pride.

"You? _I_ did all the work!"

If nothing else, the sound of their constant squabbling deterred all other unwanted guests for the rest of the night.

* * *

"She was right here, I swear!" explained Don Kanonji, sweating a little bit as Yoruichi glared at him, not pleased with having been dragged out in the middle of the night to find a missing gigai. The 'Master Spiritualist' had spent the better part of an hour searching for her to no avail, and finally went to Urahara's shop to admit that he had lost the body and needed help finding it, and unfortunately, few people were better at tracking than Yoruichi.

"I looked all over for her…we both did, but she ain't nowhere to be found!" finished Kanonji as Anrak's gigai continued to cry.

"She just vanished! We'll never find her in this big city! She must be so lost and alone right now…I feel so sorry for her!"

"Be quiet!" Yoruichi snapped, kneeling down and placing a hand on the ground, feeling the earth and listening to the wind. She knew the missing gigai wouldn't have gone far on it's own; standard artificial souls weren't as disobedient as mod-souls like Ichigo's Kon, but they were still capable of disobeying orders and following their own interests. The former Captain looked at the dance club across the street and narrowed her eyes. No, she hadn't gone very far at all…

Yoruichi led the other two into the club and began to scour the writhing mass of bodies on the dance floor, but their search was a short one; Nel's gigai had taken the spotlight, and was disco dancing on the brightly-lit floor, actually _singing_ with the music.

"Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother,  
You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive.  
Feel the city breakin' and everybody shakin', people,  
Stayin' alive, stayin' alive.  
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive,  
ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive!"

"Where'd she get the suit?" asked Don Kanonji in amazement as he watched the gigai tearing up the dance floor, and Yoruichi just facepalmed.

"I don't know and I don't care… Let's just get her _out_ of here!" hissed Yoruichi, and as she reached for the gigai's arm, the creature grabbed her and pulled the ex-captain out onto the floor, holding her tightly and prancing about.

"They're doing the Tango…why doesn't anyone want to do the Tango with _me_?" bawled the male body, and Don Kanonji could only hope that the _real_ Anrak and Neliel, wherever they were, were having a better night than he was.

* * *

The cake still stood in the center of the room alone and mostly untouched, surrounded by darkness that was nearly as dark as the fudge frosting. On the cart beside it lay two plates, each still holding a sliver of cake, and two cups of tea that had long since gone cold.

On the floor lay a trail composed of discarded clothes leading to a partially-shut bedroom door, and standing propped up against the wall inside said bedroom were two zanpaktou: the dark-blue scabbard that held _Kage Shitsukoi_ and beside her, the pale-green form of _Gamuza_. A single slice of moonlight streamed into the room through a small window off to the far side of the room, illuminating the two swords and their masters curled up beside one another in the large bed.

Only the top-most portion of the 3 could be seen on Neliel's back as she pulled the covers up and snuggled closer to Anrak, who smiled at her and gently brushed a rogue strand of green hair away from her perfect face, tucking it safely away behind her ear. She smiled back and lay her head against his shoulder as he kissed the top of her head affectionately.

"Happy birthday, Neliel."


	31. Reflections and Nightmares

**Reflections and Nightmares**

It was the sensation of movement that woke him, of something stirring at his side, and Anrak rolled over to face the source of the disturbance, yawning.

"Sorry…" apologized Neliel, "I didn't mean to wake you. I was going to let you sleep in while I took a shower."

"No, I need to get up, anyway." said Anrak, stretching as he sat up and popped his neck, "I'm supposed to be present for a Captain's meeting this morning, something about new policy revisions. I'll make us some tea while you shower, _koibito_."

Nel smiled and kissed him quickly before rushing off to the bathroom, and Anrak slowly crawled out of bed and made his way to the tiny section of their quarters that served as a kitchen.

Their quarters… When the hell had _that_ happened? How had _his_ quarters turned into _their_ quarters?

It had been a full three weeks since Nel's birthday, and since that night, she had effectively moved in, emptying out her own quarters of everything she treasured. Anrak passed stacks books that weren't his, a portrait of a much-younger Neliel and her 'family' hung on the far wall, there was now a double-sword rack for both his and her zanpaktou mounted on the wall back in the bedroom, and there was the sand-filled aquarium in the corner that was otherwise empty…

Wait just a minute; where was that damned lizard?

He looked around nervously for Chompy, having become far too accustomed to having the little beast bite his fingers and toes in the mornings. He saw nothing, at least until he opened the cabinet to pull out a pair of teacups and found Chompy sitting there on the shelf staring at his nose, the little hollow's tiny golden eyes blinking independently of one another.

"Don't even _think_ about it." warned Anrak, reaching into the cabinet and scooping up the tiny terror in his palm and returning it to the aquarium. He secured the lid over the tank and returned to his tea-making, though he was quite sure the creature would escape again by morning regardless of _how_ secure the lid was; Chompy found a way out nearly every day.

Turning his attention back to the situation with Neliel as he heated the tea, Anrak smiled to himself. He didn't mind that she'd moved in, not in the slightest; in fact, he'd never felt more at peace in his entire afterlife than since she'd been with him.

Aside from one minor incident, anyway…

* * *

_**-Eighteen Days Ago-**_

The hollows were everywhere, a never-ending flood of soul-eating monsters hell-bent on destroying the Seireitei. One by one, Anrak had watched his comrades and friends fall under the relentless onslaught; Renji, Rukia, Zaraki, Kurosaki, Shunsui, Rangiku, Hitsugaya…

Even Yamamoto, the oldest and most powerful member of the Gotei 13, had finally fallen.

And now Anrak was all alone against the hollow horde.

He couldn't even remember how long he'd been fighting, if it had been hours or days, or even a week… All he knew was that the last of his strength was fading; his obsidian armor had shattered, and while Kagi's mask had bought them some time, it hadn't been enough.

His black shihakushō was tattered and torn, and the white haori scarcely even existed anymore save for a few tattered scraps of cloth barely hanging from his shoulders. Sweat matted his short, brown hair to his head and blood seeped from countless wounds across his aching body as the black blade in his hands began to crack and splinter, slivers of onyx steel falling off with every swing now.

The air was thick with the stench of death, sweat, and blood, making it hard to breathe. His body screamed with pain and his muscles burned but he kept fighting, determined to at least die hard. He gulped in several lungfuls of the putrid air, trying to feed some badly-needed oxygen to his exhausted body so that he might have the strength to fight just a little longer.

And then _Kage Shitsukoi_ finally shattered, black splinters of steel reverting back to silver as Kagi's shikai form failed.

Anrak kept fighting with the broken hilt until at long last it was batted from his hands and an Adjuchas forced him to the ground, it's masked face grinning down at him horribly. His arms were pinned down uselessly, and the exhausted shinigami could only watch helplessly as the gaping maw of the hollow closed in on him…

* * *

He awoke with a sharp gasp, only to find himself lying in his quarters, in bed, staring up at the ceiling.

_**A nightmare, that's all it was…**_

Anrak allowed himself a quiet sigh of relief, feeling a bit foolish for even having such a dream. Hollows would _never_ breach the Seireitei and slay all the others; how could he have ever had such a ridiculous dream? He smirked to himself in the darkness and rolled over…

…and found himself face to face with a white hollow mask straight out of his nightmare, only inches from his head.

The terror he'd felt from the dream resurfaced and he cried out as he scrambled backwards, falling out of bed and down to the hard wood floor roughly.

Neliel sat up suddenly, having been woken by the scream and the commotion beside her. She looked around for her Captain and when she didn't see him, she followed the bed sheets to the edge of the bed, crawling over and looking down at the terrified soul reaper.

"An, what's wrong? What happened?" she asked, concerned as she noted how deathly-pale his face was.

Anrak panted for several long seconds as he gradually calmed down, his mind quickly piecing together what had transpired.

Suddenly, the dream by itself didn't seem so stupid now…

"I had a nightmare…" he began slowly, shamefully, "of hollows invading the Seireitei and killing everyone but me. I woke up right before they killed me, and I thought I was safe…and then I rolled over and I saw…"

He trailed off and looked away, his pride refusing to let him finish.

Nel blinked down at him, puzzled for a moment.

"You saw…?" she asked before realization flashed in her eyes and she reached up to touch the mask perched on top of her skull.

There was a brief silence as Anrak flushed red with embarassment and Nel sat there digesting this information.

And then she began to laugh hysterically, clutching her sides as she lost control and fell off the edge of the bed with a yelp, landing right on top of her captain…and she was _still_ laughing.

Two pairs of feet could be heard running up the hallway, and Anrak heard the door to his quarters being slid open roughly, followed shortly by the bedroom door being flung wide open.

"Captain, are you okay?" asked Sentarō worriedly.

"We heard a scream and-" began Kiyone, cutting herself short as the duo noticed their naked Lieutenant on top of their Captain, who was also unclothed save for a bed sheet pulled around their bodies.

For the first time since he'd been appointed Captain, Anrak found that his two Third-Seats had been rendered completely and utterly speechless.

"We're fine here, just fine." he said, struggling to make his voice sound strong and confident given the situation.

"A thousand apologies, my Captain!" declared Kiyone and Sentarō simultaneously as they finally found their voices once more, each spinning around on their heel to face the wall rather than stare at their commanding officers.

Neliel's laughter finally faded as she wrapped the sheet around her body more tightly and gave an embarrassed smile, telling them not to worry about it as Anrak cleared his throat and dismissed them to go back to their own quarters down the hall.

The door could be heard sliding shut behind them as they exited and once she was sure the two shinigami were out of earshot, Neliel broke down into hysterical laughter again, her cheeks still as red as Anrak's at being caught in such a compromising situation, but she refused to ignore the humor of it.

"I'm _so_ glad you're amused…" said Anrak dryly and Nel kissed him lightly, giggling.

"Lighten up; it was funny!"

"If it had happened to Renji, yeah, _then_ it would be funny…" said Anrak, pulling Neliel close to his body and standing up, carrying her back to the bed before unceremoniously dumping her onto the mattress. She stuck her tongue out at him before reaching up to grab his shoulders and yanking him down with her, hugging him tightly as they curled up and _tried_ to go back to sleep.

"An?" she asked quietly in the dark.

"Yeah?" he responded, turning slightly to face her.

"Boo!"

* * *

_**-Present Day-**_

A pair of slender arms wrapped themselves around his waist just as he finished pouring the second cup of hot tea, with a soft set of lips kissing the back of his neck affectionately before going to his ear to whisper gently.

"Boo."

He smirked in spite of himself as Nel released him, offering her a cup of the morning tea. Her green hair was still wet, hanging down limply and framing her angelic face with a towel resting around her shoulders. Anrak smiled at her and straightened out the white, soft, light under-kimono she was wearing at the moment before heading to the bathroom for his own shower.

Anrak allowed himself to reflect on how fortunate he was as the hot water coursed over his body, cascading over his shoulders and down his scarred chest. A hundred and ten years ago, if anyone had told him that one day he would be a captain and have the most beautiful woman in the entire Seireitei as his Lieutenant _and_ lover, he'd have laughed in their face. It would have been an insane, absurd notion that he couldn't even _begin_ to wrap his head around.

Hell, even here and now, he still had difficulties with it sometimes.

The only black mark marring the perfection of it all was a burning desire to rip out Mayuri Kurotsuchi's spine and roast his corpse to a blackened crisp.

After putting it off for weeks, he had finally got around to asking Enjeru about the significance of the flag Kurotsuchi had used to terrorize Nel, and Anrak had _not_ been pleased with what Enjeru told him.

In fact, it had taken Enjeru and Renji both to hold him back from marching into Kurotsuchi's lab right then and incinerating the creepy clown to ash.

In one sense, he was glad that his friends had stopped him; the Seireitei could ill afford to lose another captain at the moment, and there was no telling what the disciplinary action against him for murder would be. Execution was pretty doubtful, seeing as they needed to keep their captains as a display of strength as the Soul Society rebuilt itself, but it wasn't off the table entirely.

Besides, sooner or later, Kurotsuchi was bound to cross the wrong line with Yamamoto one day, and then it would be open season.

_You should tell her about it_, Kagi suggested.

_**I can't believe that even **_**you**_** would be heartless enough to tell her the truth.**_

There was a short silence as Kagi pondered that for a moment.

_Maybe not _all_ of it, then._

_**None of it.**_

Neliel was powerful, more powerful than he was. She would never truly need his protection in a fight, but shielding her from the truth was at least _something_ he could do for her. It was a blessing that she didn't remember her human life, and Anrak wanted to keep the horrible truth hidden away from her for as long as he possibly could.

_And when I tried to hide certain truths to protect you, you got angry with me…_

_**Hai, I did…and I'm sorry. I understand now.**_

Kagi didn't respond, but he could literally _feel_ her satisfaction with his answer.

As he dried himself off and began to put on his black shihakushō and brown leather _tekkou_ bracers, Anrak also allowed himself to feel thankful that he and Kagi had finally began to understand each other more. She still didn't actually _like_ Neliel, but she'd finally silenced most of her complaining. She understood that he cared for Nel, and that the arrancar reciprocated, and that counted for something with the strange spirit.

And their newfound understanding of one another had produced more benefits than simply Kagi ceasing her anti-Nel rhetoric; it had allowed for them to grow stronger as a team.

Kagi had said she was originally a fire-type zanpaktou before being corrupted by the hollow, the Red-Flame Princess…and now that they'd begun to understand each other more, the fire element of his powers had become more and more pronounced. It was still a dark flame, an eerie black fire, and that would never change, but the fire itself had grown stronger and hotter, and Anrak truly felt more at ease with his zanpaktou than ever before.

Though, the biggest benefit of all was _still_ the end of Kagi's complaining…

_She's still a ditz, though, and you're still a moron._

Anrak rolled his eyes as he exited the bathroom and rejoined Neliel in the main room where she helped him slide on his haori before handing him his zanpaktou to slide into his belt as she did the same with _Gamuza_, sliding it into the green cloth she wore around her waist.

It was the scarf Rangiku had given her for her birthday, but Nel had taken to wrapping it around her waist like a sash, the twin ends of it dangling off her right hip, opposite of her zanpaktou. She adjusted the Lieutenant's badge on her arm as Anrak stepped in and kissed her lips softly.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

"Hai." she said, smiling as she kissed him back.

Anrak slid the door open, allowing her to step outside first before joining her, and they walked a ways together before parting, with her going to the Division 13 Headquarters while he headed for the Captain's Meeting over in Division 1.

He turned a corner and found Captain Zaraki, also heading towards Division 1, and as Anrak fell into step beside his former Captain and began to discuss the upcoming meeting, he marveled at the notion of Zaraki treating him as an equal now instead of an insignificant no-name peon under his command anymore. A century ago, he'd never imagined in his wildest dreams that he could have ever gained the respect of his now former-Captain, but now it felt good and strangely natural.

They conversed back and forth for several minutes as peers before Zaraki surprised him with a most unexpected comment…

"She's good for you, you know. Ain't many people willing to threaten _me_ over anything, but she is. She's strong, too; I respect that."

"Ah…thank you." said Anrak, a bit thrown by Zaraki's declaration, although he could recall Neliel threatening Zaraki several times over the way the captain had treated him prior to the promotion. Indeed, the normally-gentle woman had made it _very _clear that she was prepared to tear Zaraki's head off when it came to Anrak's well-being.

_**No wonder Zaraki approves of her…**_

They walked in silence for a few minutes after, with Zaraki pausing for a moment just outside the Captain's Hall to give his younger companion an insane grin and ask the inevitable…

"You ready for a rematch yet?"

Anrak just groaned in response as they entered the hall and took their positions, waiting for the meeting to start.


	32. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

It was midnight in the Soul Society, with the night falling across everything and blanketing the white buildings of the Seireitei in a temporary darkness.

Only temporary, though.

In here, however, the night was eternal.

Kagi sat on the ground in her inner world, beneath a Sakura tree who had long since died, it's lifeless limbs stretching up into the night sky and clawing at the pale full moon that never waned. Outside, her "master" lay curled up beside that cursed green-haired ditz, the silly arrancar known as Neliel, and Kagi drew her upper lip back in disgust at the thought. The disgust only deepened when she sensed Anrak slip an arm around Neliel's waist and pull her close, embracing her.

On some level, she knew and accepted that the humanoid hollow was actually good for Anrak: she cared about him, comforted him, supported him, even _loved_ him. Still, that didn't take away the sting Kagi felt at having her master choose Neliel over her.

The dual sword rack mounted above Anrak's bed held both _Kage Shitsukoi_ and Neliel's own _Gamuza_, and Kagi wondered what the other zanpaktou would think about the situation were it capable of the same kind of sentience a shinigami's weapon had. Would it be as disturbed? Would it be happy for it's master?

She supposed that it wasn't all bad, though; since Neliel had moved in with her captain, the inner world had begun to warm up once more.

Long ago, before coming to the Soul Society, Kagi had been a different entity, _Reddo-en Hime_, the Red-Flame Princess, and the inner world had been a different place, too; it had been a warm place, vibrant and full of color and life, very similar to the small patch of Sakura trees in the forest Anrak loved to visit so much.

And then, Death had come…

The dark influence of the dying hollow had changed _Reddo-en Hime_ into _Kage Shitsukoi_, Unrelenting Shadow, and it had drastically altered the inner world as well. Sakura blossoms withered and died quickly, shriveling up and disintegrating into a fine dust. The cheery blue sky had become black and purple, and the brilliant golden sun had become a forever-full moon with a pale blue glow.

What had once been an endless summer day had instead become an eternal autumn night.

As the Red-Flame Princess, she would have been appalled by the darkness and lifelessness around her; as Kagi, she embraced the darkness and adored the shadows, reveling in the gloomy misery of it all. The only thing she hated about her little world was the temperature, as it had become much chillier since crossing over.

But somehow, with Nel present in her master's "life," things had begun to warm once more…

The eternal autumn night had finally become a never-ending summer's night.

She wondered briefly about the "why" of it all, before deciding it would be best to follow a piece of advice Captain Kyōraku had given her master once; _never question good fortune_.

As much as it pained her to admit it, yes, Neliel did have _some_ redeeming qualities.

Of course, if the wench ever made a mistake, or if Kagi could find a way to manifest herself in the material world whenever she pleased, then Neliel would be history…

A smile that wasn't exactly evil but wasn't really anything else spread itself across her face slowly at the thought of dispatching her unwanted rival.

"One day…" she muttered to herself.

Reaching into the shadows around her, she pulled out the hated mask that was both another painful reminder of her own hollow side and the source of her greatest power. She held the white, bone-like monstrosity up to her face, wearing it for just a moment.

She exhaled a long breath that came out as a distorted animal hiss, a promise of death to any who would hear it. Amber-colored eyes gazed up at the sky, a sky that had become far blacker because of the mask's presence, with the moon hidden behind extensive cloud cover.

With a sigh, she pulled the cursed object away, her bright sapphire-blue eyes looking down at the mask in her slender hands. The clouds above parted and allowed the moon to spread it's soft light across the landscape once more as the mask itself began to disperse itself back into shadows, fading away into the night.

At least Anrak knew about her secret now, knew that truth at least. In fact, their relationship as shinigami and zanpaktou had never been better: there was less arguing, no distrust, no hatred…

She frowned as she realized that Neliel was responsible for helping to improve _that_, too.

Grunting more from irritation than effort, Kagi rose to her feet and walked out into the small clearing to bathe in the moonlight, trying to shove the idea of that silly arrancar out of her mind for at least a little while.

A lot had changed for Kagi and Anrak over the past century, especially the past few months, and she couldn't help but smile as she looked back upon it all.

They had arrived, and no longer were they considered weak and worthless; instead, they were hailed as being among the strongest shinigami the Seireitei had to offer.

The crowning achievement in Kagi's eyes had been Zaraki's eagerness to duel them, and then his request for a rematch despite having _won _the first time around. It was praise unlike any other, and only those who truly understood how Zaraki's deranged mind functioned could ever fully appreciate it.

Zaraki had always looked down at Anrak as being nothing while they were in Squad 11, and now the captain treated him like an equal, and had in fact been the strongest and most vocal supporter for Anrak's own promotion to Captain. For Kagi, the approval of the infamous Captain Kenpachi Zaraki was the greatest victory they could have ever hoped for.

So very much had changed, and all of it was for the better…even Anrak's relationship with Nel, she admitted to herself reluctantly.

Overhead and unseen to Kagi, the single remaining bud on the sakura tree, dormant for nearly two hundred years, finally blossomed against the moonlight.

**End**

...

..

* * *

**Author's Note:** And so we have finally reached the end of this tale. Not sure if this was what anyone expected or not, but it is at least the scene I always intended. Hope it's been an enjoyable read for everyone, and this is my last chance to plead for reviews from my other readers who have thus far been silent. I know it's taken me a lot longer to push this out than it should, but there's a part of me that doesn't want it to end.

But the Winter War is over, and so this tale must come to a close. And wow, looking at the recent manga updates, the war turned out considerably different than I would have expected...but then, I always knew this would end up as an AU before it was all said and done.

Mercy, from the Star Wars Artists Guild, has graciously done a picture of Anrak and Kagi for me! The link is in my profile, since FanFiction apparently doesn't like it when I try to insert it here. While I will certainly make sure that any comments on it left here find their way to her, please leave a comment on her page to let her know how incredible she is if you have a DA account. Thanks, Mercy; I cannot express my appreciation of your time and work nearly enough!

Many thanks to all those who have left reviews, as well as those who have simply been following the story silently. This may be the end of this story, but I do have other tales for Anrak and Neliel and will likely visit them again in the future (maybe a short spinoff for Takk and Satsu...I love those two idiots).

Also check out _Espada's Masquerade_ if you enjoyed this story; it's set in the same AU and while it follows a different cast of characters, it does serve as a sequel in many respects and offers a few looks in on Nel and Anrak.

Special thanks to Animelover1993 and Stormcrowley, my two most consistant reviewers; you don't know how much I have appreciated your comments and support.

Also many thanks to my friend Ryumaju, who beta-read most of my chapters for me. He's still working on his own story entitled _The Road to War_, which details the adventures of Enjeru and Kisutera, so please look him up and give it a read.

I've learned a lot over the course of this story and looking back I can see a lot of mistakes I made, things I would have done differently... But hey, maybe next time. Thanks to all for sticking around this long, and I hope everyone will return for my future offerings.

**Update:** I'm constantly re-reading my works and finding things to improve, clarify, remove, or add, and while this story has been marked as complete for a long while now, that does not mean I have abandoned it; several chapters have had edits done, though nothing that substantially alters the fabric of the story. Kagi's release command is finally mentioned, but if you blink you're likely to miss it!


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